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Questions  of  the  Da  y  Series. — No.  LXII. 


AMERICAN    FARMS 


THEIR  CONDITION  AND  FUTURE 


J.  R.  ELLIOTT 


"  111  fares  the  land,  to  hast'ning  ills  a  prey, 
Where  wealth  accumulates,  and  men  decay ; 
Princes  and  lords  may  flourish,  or  may  fade  ; 
A  breath  can  make  them,  as  a  breath  hath  made ; 
But  a  bold  peasantry,  their  country's  pride, 
When  once  destroyed,  can  never  be  supplied." 

Oliver  Goldsmith 


NEW  YORK  &  LONDON 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S   SONS 

Sl^c  ^nitkerbochtr  %m% 

1890 


COPYRIGHT   BY 

J.  R.  ELLIOTT 


Ube  TJjnickcrlioc^icr  Dress,  V.cw  )j?orb 

Cie  tr   :    ■         .;;      ;    ::.;c.l  i.y 


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5  THE  AUTHOR 

H 

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(VI  WHOSE    SYMPATHIES,    SENTIMENTS,    AND    COUNSELS    HAVE    BEEN 

g  AN   INVALUABLE   AID   AND   INCENTIVE  IN   THE 

WORK    OF    ITS    PREPARATION 


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CONTENTS. 


Introductory 


PAGE 

I 


BOOK  I. 
Importance  and  Possibilities  of  Agriculture. 

Chapter  I.     What  is  the  Real  Importance  of  Agriculture  ? 
"       II.     The  Possibilities  of  Agriculture 


9 
22 


BOOK  II. 
A  Far-Reaching  Disorder  upon  the  Interest  ok  Husbandry. 


Chapter  I. 
"  II. 
"     III. 

"      IV. 
V. 

"      VI. 
"    VII. 


Troubles  of  the  Agriculturists  of  Ancient  Times 

The  Difficulty  Far-Reaching  To-Day 

The   American    Farmer's    Waning    Economic 

Power        .... 
Farm  Mortgages     ..... 
The  Capitalists  Gaining  the  Land — the  Typical 

American  Farm  .... 
Rented  Farms  ..... 
Abandoned  Farms  


31 
34 

36 
45 

53 
58 
60 


BOOK  III. 
Agriculture's  Struggle. 
Chapter  I.     The  Farmer's  Cotemporaries  .... 

"       II.     Competition    ....... 

"     III.     Between  the  Upper  and  Nether  Mill-stones     . 

"      IV.     Protection  a  Deadly  Enemy  to  the  Farmers  of 

America    ....••• 

"        V.     Trusts,  Combines,  etc 

V 


67 

78 
90 

94 
no 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  IV. 

Impotence  of  the  Remedies  Proposed,  and  the  Erroneous 
Reasons  Ascribed  for  the  Difficulties  now  overtaking 
the  farmers  of  america. 

PAGE 

lig 

122 


Chapter  I. 
"  II. 
"  III. 
"      IV. 

V. 
"      VI. 


Chapter  I. 

"       II. 

"     III. 

"      IV. 

V. 


Does  Protection  Protect  the  Farmer  ? 
The  Home  Markets  Further  Considered 
Trusts  for  the  Farmer      ..... 

Protection    as    it    Refers    to    Agriculture    in 
England    ....... 

As  to  Frugality       ...... 

Henry  George's  Remedy  .... 

BOOK    V. 

Taxation. 
Taxation  in  General        ..... 

The  Single  Tax       .         .         .   "      . 

Indirect  Taxation    ...... 

Direct  Taxation      ...... 

The    Real   Strength    of    an    Evil    System    of 
Taxation  ...... 


Chapter  I. 
"      II. 

"     HI. 


125 

128 
132 
134 


141 
145 
156 
163 

170 


BOOK    VI. 
Politics. 
The  Farmer  Losing  his  Political  Power  . 
The  Farmer's  Interest  in  Free  Trade  in  Natural 
Products  only    ...... 

Free  Trade  may  be  Selfish  as  well  as  Protection; 
or,  the  Inefficiency  of  Free-Trade  Move- 
ments        ....... 

BOOK    VII. 

The  Physical,  Mental,  Social,  and  Moral  Considerations 
Involved. 


175 


187 


206 


Chapter  I. 


II. 
III. 


The  Divergence  of  Intellectual  Development 
from  a  Basis  of  Physical  Stamina,  and  its 
Consequences    ...... 

The  Farmers'  Interest  in  the  Social  Outlook    . 

Danger  to  Morals    ...... 


The  Conclusion,  in  Which  the  Remedy  is  Found 


211 

221 
235 
251 


Feel  for  the  wrongs  to  universal  ken 

Daily  exposed,  woe  that  unshrouded  lies  ; 
And  seek  the  sufferer  in  his  darkest  den, 

Whether  conducted  to  the  spot  by  sighs 
And  moanings,  or  he  dwells  (as  if  the  wren 

Taught  him  concealment)  hidden  from  all  eyes 
In  silence  and  in  the  awful  modesties 

Of  sorrow  ; — feel  for  all,  as,  brother  Men  ; 
Rest  not  in  hope  want's  icy  chain  to  thaw 

By  casual  boons  and  formal  charities  ; 
Learn  to  be  just,  just  through  impartial  law  ; 

Far  as  ye  may,  erect  and  equalize  ; 
And,  what  ye  cannot  reach  by  statute,  draw 

Each  from  his  fountain  of  self-sacrifice  !  " 

— Wordsworth. 


ERRATUM. 


Read  50  per  cent,  instead  of  100  per  cent,  on  page  95, 
line  25,  and  page  96,  line  2. 


AMERICAN    FARMS. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  recount  the  many  experiences, 
the  various  mental  evolutions,  which  have  carried  me  on 
to  a  resistless  desire  to  solve  one  of  the  most,  if  not  the 
most  important  problem  of  the  day — to  wit :  "  What  is 
the  trouble  on  the  old  farms  ?  Why  is  a  disease  taking 
hold  of  agriculture  in  America  ? 

I  do  not  here  allude  to  any  technical  question  of 
agriculture,  but  to  a  burning  economic  and  social  diffi- 
culty which,  it  would  appear,  has  been  gradually  creep- 
ing upon  this  new  world  for  many  years. 

As  I  attempt  to  note  my  thoughts  on  this  matter,  I 

find  myself  among  the  best  of  farms,  in .     I  have 

been  familiar  with  their  history  for  many  years.  Their 
changes,  on  the  one  hand,  and  their  lack  of  changes,  on 
the  other,  have  impressed  me  most  seriously. 

The  grandsires  of  the  present  occupiers  were  the  real 
pioneers  in  the  settlement  of  this  district.  They  pros- 
pered ;  settled  their  sons  round  them  in  comfortable 
homes.  The  fathers  of  the  present  generation  also 
prospered   in   a   high   degree  ;    though  from  this  point 


2  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

of  observation,  it  can  be  plainly  seen  that  a  change  had 
set  in.  The  building  of  highways  among  their  lands 
had  ceased,  the  farms  had  not  been  subdivided  for 
the  purpose  of  increasing  their  number,  though  the 
majority  of  these  lands  are  forest,  or  but  half  culti- 
vated. 

The  majority  of  the  sons — brothers  to  the  present 
occupiers — have  drifted  away  into  other  occupations  ; 
many,  it  is  true,  to  make  complete  failures  in  the  race 
for  wealth  ;  while  others  have  gained  high  positions  in 
the  professions,  or  have  become  rich  and  influential. 

On  this  strip  of  fine  agricultural  land,  the  farm  pop- 
ulation has  actually  decreased  in  the  last  forty  years.' 
During  the  twenty  years,  1849-69,  the  number  of 
new  dwellings  erected  was  greater  by  40  per  cent,  than 
during  the  twenty  years  which  followed.  Moreover, 
much  finer  buildings  were  erected  during  the  first-named 
period  than  in  the  latter,  while  they  were  paid  for  quite 
as  fully. 

Recently  (June,  1889),  I  had  occasion  to  travel  by 
highway  through  some  sixty  miles  of  the  best  agricultural 
districts  of  this  fine  country.  In  this  journey  I  passed 
not  less  than  six  hundred  farms,  and  throughout  the 
whole  of  it  I  observed  not  a  single  farm-house  in  course 
of  construction.  But  I  did  notice  on  the  route  one  very 
fine  new  residence  being  finished  for  the  occupancy  of  a 
government  official,  and  another  under  extensive  repairs 
for  the  purpose  of  lodging  summer  boarders  from  the 
cities,  and  also  the  foundation  being  laid  for  a  custom- 
house, the  cost  of  which  is  to  be  six  times  the  re- 
quirements of   the  port  in   which    it   is  to  be  located. 

'  In  this  comparison  are  included  young  men  and  young  women 
furthering  the  interests  of  agriculture,  and  farm  laborers. 


IN  TROD  C7C  TOR  Y.  3 

A  large  number  of  abandoned  houses,  however,  were 
observed  ;  the  farms  connected  being,  probably,  in  some 
way  passed  over  to  the  care  of  a  neighboring  husband- 
man. 

With  the  assistance  of  a  gentleman  well  informed  as 
to  the  financial  standing  of  the  farmers  of  this  section 
of  the  county,  we  gather  data  ;  and  arrive  at  the  conclu- 
sion that  not  less  than  25  per  cent,  of  the  farms  are  in 
the  grip  of  the  usurer.  This,  it  would  seem,  is  a  grow- 
ing evil.  During  the  twelve  months,  ending  31st  July, 
1889,  there  were  30  per  cent,  more  mortgages  given,  in 
this  county,  than  releases  granted.  At  this  rate  of  in- 
crease, in  less  than  fifteen  years,  50  per  cent,  of  the 
farms  will  be  under  mortgage. 

Dairying,  once  a  leading  industry,  has  decreased  fully 
50  per  cent,  in  the  last  score  of  years.  And  it  would 
require  an  outlay  of  large  proportions  to  dot  these  old 
hill-side  pastures  over  again  with  the  milk  herds  of 
twenty-five  years  ago. 

The  value  of  farm  lands  has  seldom  been  lower  dur- 
ing the  last  thirty  years  than  now  ;  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  this  is  an  important  part  of  the  much-famed 

apple    region    of   ,  which   has    lately    come    into 

prominence. 

The  average  $5,000  invested  in  farming  (not  including 
the  dwellings),  at  the  present  estimated  value  of  farms, 
will  give  to  the  farm  proprietor  about  $750  per  year 
gross  income,  including  value  of  amount  consumed  by 
his  family.  Out  of  this,  at  least  $250  must  be  paid  by 
the  average  farmer  for  labor  (including  board),  and  at 
least  another  $150  for  direct  taxes,  insurance,  fertilizers, 
and  renewal  of  machinery,  wagons,  and  harness,  etc.  : 
leaving  $350  for  the  farmer.     A  good  farm  laborer  will 


4  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

get  for  the  year  about  $250,  including  board  at  20  cents 
per  day.  This  estimate  would  throw  the  farmer  $200 
behind  the  laborer  in  the  way  of  income  ;  if  he  charges 
his  business  with  the  $300  interest,  which  his  capital  is 
entitled  to.  If  he  charges  his  time  and  that  of  his  family 
at  the  rate  received  by  the  laborer  ;  he  will  have  nothing 
for  his  capital.  In  any  case,  the  laborer,  without  a  cent 
invested  in  the  business,  will  be  able  to  save  as  much, 
perhaps  more,  at  the  end  of  each  year,  than  the  farmer, 
with  all  his  capital.  What  is  the  matter  ?  Is  the  laborer 
getting  too  much  ?  Perhaps  not  ;  not  in  proportion  to 
the  share  of  the  national  income  received  by  many  others 
about  him.  But  why  this  anomalous  condition  in  refer- 
ence to  agriculture  ? 

The  average  farm  proprietor  of  this  community  is  as 
fine  a  type  of  man  as  the  average  in  any  city  or  country 
in  North  America, — frugal,  industrious,  intelligent,  quick 
of  wit,  and  ambitious  beyond  the  average  man. 

The  conclusion  from  a  large  number  of  schedules  of 
farmers'  incomes,  furnished  by  farmers  themselves, 
strengthens  our  suspicion  that  something  is  wrong  ;  that 
in  this  community  of  fine  farms,  and  intelligent  farmers, 
the  majority  of  them  are  supporting  families,  paying 
taxes,  and  forming  the  fund  for  the  rainy  day,  out  of  an 
average  annual  income  of  less  than  $350.  We  have  for 
some  time  entertained  the  opinion  that  thousands  of 
our  land  proprietors,  on  less  fruitful  lands,  are,  in  this 
fair  country,  forced  to  meet  the  necessities  of  life  for 
their  families,  and  pay  the  demands  made  upon  them  by 
society,  out  of  less  than  $250  per  year.  We  wonder  if 
to  such  it  is  not  necessary  that  Providence  deal  kindly  ; 
that  illness  be  infrequent,  and  of  short  duration  ;  and 
that  frugality  of  the  strictest  character,  be  practised  ! 


INTRODUCTORY.  5 

But  on  extending  the  scope  of  our  inquiries,  we  find 
this  is  a  matter  for  serious  consideration  ;  not  only  for 
this  district,  but  for  others,  and  for  other  parts  of 
America.  We  want  to  know  if  it  is  world-wide  in  its 
character  ;  if  it  is  an  old  problem,  with  a  new  face  ;  if 
it  is  a  normal  condition  ;  if  agriculture  is  not  first  in 
importance  to  national  welfare  ;  if  it  should  not  in  this 
era  of  extended  division  of  labor  give  to  its  votaries  the 
maximum  of  wealth  and  comforts  in  return  for  faithful 
toil  :  for  when  was  there  a  period  in  which  the  produc- 
tive forces  were  doing  more  toward  increasing  national 
wealth  ?  When  was  there  a  time  of  greater  boasting  of 
material  progress,  and  its  attendant  results  in  the  grand- 
eur of  civilization  ? 

If  the  condition  is  abnormal,  where  is  the  remedy  ? 
If  there  is  no  remedy,  what  of  the  future  ? 

To  this  end  I  humbly  contribute  the  result  of  energies 
of  pen  and  brain,  of  head  and  heart,  discarding  all  party 
feeling,  selfish  prejudice,  or  unworthy  motives. 

One  of  America's  gifted  sons  asks  : 

"  For  what  avail  the  plough  or  sail, 
Or  land  or  life,  if  freedom  fail  ?  " 

We  ask  :  What  avail  to  bridge  our  oceans  with  float- 
ing palaces,  to  span  our  continents  with  the  most 
magnificent  rail  trains,  to  stud  our  land  with  smoking 
chimneys — the  product  of  the  industries  they  represent 
reaching  the  grandest  proportions, — to  pile  up  national 
wealth  away  beyond  all  precedent,  if  for  all  this,  or  with 
all  this,  the  sons  of  the  pioneers  who  hewed  down  the 
primeval  forests,  and  brought  the  lands  under  subjection 
to  the  influence  and  service  of  civilization,  are  to  be- 


6  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

come  paupers  in  the  midst  of  an  abundance,  or  to  see 
their  lands  pass  over  to  the  control  of  avaricious 
capital  ?  No  !  we  feel  impelled  to  search  out  the  dan- 
gers and  the  causes,  and,  if  possible,  to  do  something 
to  arrest  them. 


BOOK  I. 

IMPORTANCE   AND   POSSIBILITIES  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

"  Give  fools  their  gold,  and  knaves  their  power, 
Let  fortune's  bubbles  rise  or  fall. 
Who  sows, a  field,  or  trains  a  flower. 
Or  plants  a  tree,  is  more  than  all. 

"  For  he  who  blesses  most  is  blest. 

And  God  and  man  shall  own  his  worth. 
Who  toils  to  leave,  as  his  bequest, 
An  added  beauty  to  the  earth." 

— Whittier. 


CHAPTER  I. 

WHAT  IS  THE  REAL  IMPORTANCE  OF  AGRICULTURE? 

That  the  progress  of  America  during  the  century 
which  now  draws  to  a  close  has  been  of  unprecedented 
greatness,  as  compared  with  the  past  or  present  progress 
of  the  other  nations  of  the  world,  is  a  generally  accepted 
belief.  The  idea  prevails  that  America  is  "  built  up." 
This  feeling  finds  expression  every  day  in  the  utterances 
of  its  people,  and  in  most  quarters. 

That  this  development  on  our  continent  has  been 
marvellous,  is  not  to  be  questioned.  However,  to  ap- 
proximate a  correct  estimate  of  the  real  worth  of  this 
expansion  and  greatness,  and  of  the  principal  factors  in 
its  accomplishment,  various  considerations  are  involved. 
Account  has  to  be  made,  not  only  of  its  political  stand- 
ing among  the  nations,  but  of  the  power  and  vigor  of  its 
institutions,  and  its  conditions  for  the  existence  and 
promotion  of  peace,  contentment,  morality,  and  stability 
among  its  people.  A  country's  ''  strength  is  in  its  men, 
and  in  their  unity  and  virtue."  '  In  these  are  the  essen- 
tials of  a  development  which  may  be  true  and  enduring, 
a  progress  which  may  be  verifiable. 

To  the  question,  to  what   great  industry  are  we  most 
indebted  for  what  may  be  true  and  abiding  for  good  in 
our  development  ?  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  answering  : 
'  John  Ruskin 
I*  9 


lO  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

it  is  husbandry.  If  this  be  correct,  this  country  cannot 
afford  to  estimate  agriculture  at  a  low  value. 

And  now,  as  men's  minds  are  turned  to  a  greater  con- 
sideration of  the  position  of  the  rural  classes  than  at 
any  former  period  in  the  history  of  America,  the  ques- 
tions arise  :  has  Ceres  lost  her  power  ?  does  nature 
decide  that  agriculture  shall  not  be  the  first  of  indus- 
tries ?     Not  by  any  means. 

The  real  impprtance  of  agriculture  in  framing  the 
groundwork  of  a  true  national  prosperity  is  very  great ; 
and  should  not  be  undervalued,  especially  by  farmers 
themselves.  Such  undervaluation  on  the  part  of  those 
immediately  interested  has  worked  mischief,  and  must 
continue  to  do  so. 

A  review  of  history  will  remind  the  peruser  of  the 
fact  that,  with  the  nations  of  antiquity,  and  even  until  a 
very  recent  period,  agriculture  was  generally  considered 
first  as  a  medium  in  the  creation  of  wealth,  first  in  re- 
spectability, and  first  in  securing  peace  and  happiness 
to  society. 

Though  the  literature  of  Greece  gave  too  little  space 
to  the  praise  of  this  most  worthy  occupation,  the  glimpse 
that  may  be  had  of  the  position  of  these  matters  among 
the  Grecians  of  the  Heroic  Age,  tends  to  the  conclusion, 
that  agriculture,  with  them,  occupied  a  prominent  place 
in  their  attention  and  estimation.  It  points  to  the 
probability  that  the  tiller  of  the  soil  was,  in  political 
affairs  of  the  time,  inferior  to  none.  However  little 
there  may  be  on  which  to  base  an  absolute  decision  as 
regards  this,  the  occupation  was  evidently  highly  re- 
spected and  esteemed  by  those  who  have  borne  to  us  the 
little  knowledge  to  be  had  of  the  sentiments  and  condi- 
tions of  the  time. 


THE  REAL  IMPORTANCE  OF  AGRICULTURE.       1 1 

When  Homer  draws  his  picture  on  the  shield  which 
he  causes  Vulcan  to  forge  for  Achilles,  he  mingles  feasts, 
dancing,  and  luxury,  with  contentions  and  bloodshed 
in  his  city  scenes  ;  while  rural  life  is  represented  by 
"  soft  fallowfields,  rich  glebes,"  "  industrious  plough- 
men," "  fields  of  deep  corn,"  "  diligent  reapers  and 
delighted  masters,"  banquets  in  preparation  for  the 
toilers,  observances  of  religious  rites,  scenes  repre- 
senting the  union  of  industry,  comfort,  sanctity,  peace, 
and  pleasure  ;  a  mingling  of  what  is  truest  in  nature 
and  in  life  ;  rites  portraying  a  confiding  faith  in  Nature's 
God,  the  All  Father. 

That  great  man,  Aristotle,  the  economist  as  well  as 
philosopher  and  logician,  reckoned  agriculture  as  the 
chief  source  of  national  wealth.  Modern  political  econ- 
omy, as  taught  by  the  best  writers,  more  correctly  gives  to 
all  industries  a  value  in  proportion  to  the  utility  of  the 
articles  they  produce  ;  but  the  prevailing  thought  and 
custom  of  the  day  goes  farther  than  this,  and  finds  its  ex- 
ercise in  practically  belittling  agriculture. 

The  ancient  Romans,  as  all  are  aware,  looked  upon 
this  favorite  occupation  with  a  sort  of  "  devotional 
respect."  Reproducing  from  Von  Schlegel's  "  Philos- 
ophy of  History,"  we  have  the  following  passage,  com- 
prehensive and  frequently  quoted  :  "  They  (the  Romans) 
were  exceedingly  covetous  of  gain,  or  rather  of  land,  for 
it  was  from  land,  and  in  the  production  of  the  soil,  that 
their  principal  and  almost  only  wealth  consisted.  They 
were  a  thoroughly  agricultural  people,  and  it  was  only  at 
a  late  period  that  commerce,  trades,  and  arts  were  intro- 
duced among  them,  and  even  then,  they  occupied  but  a 
subordinate  place."  When  at  length  the  majority  of  the 
Roman  people  lost  their  hold  upon  the  best  of  occupa- 


12  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

tions,  there  still  remained  a  goodly  number  of  the  noblest 
and  truest  citizens  who  continued  to  hold  to  the  once 
universal  custom — attachment  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil.  Many  it  seems  shared  the  sentiments  of  Cato — 
"a  pursuit  in  which  a  wise  man's  life  should  be  spent." 

The  ancient  Egyptians  also  gave  the  greatest  attention 
to  agriculture,  and  carried  it  up  to  a  high  state  of  perfec- 
tion. Writers  claim  that  their  paintings  and  inscriptions 
lead  to  the  conclusion  that  an  advanced  stage  of  civiliza- 
tion also  accompanied  this  love  of  and  pride  in  this 
choicest  of  occupations. 

With  the  other  nations  of  antiquity,  the  Israelites  were 
also  remarkable  for  the  high  proficiency  to  which  they 
carried  agricultural  pursuits.  In  the  "  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica  "  will  be  found  the  following  concise  passage, 
relative  to  the  importance  of  agriculture  with  the  early 
Israelites  :  "  The  sojourn  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt  trained 
them  for  the  more  purely  agricultural  life  that  awaited 
them  on  their  return  to  take  possession  of  Canaan. 
Nearly  the  whole  population  were  virtually  husbandmen. 
Upon  their  entrance  into  Canaan,  they  found  the  coun- 
try occupied  by  a  dense  population  possessed  of  walled 
cities  and  innumerable  villages,  masters  of  great  accumu- 
lated wealth,  and  subsisting  on  the  produce  of  their 
highly  cultivated  soil,  which  abounded  with  vineyards 
and  olive-yards.  It  was  so  rich  in  grain  that  the  invad- 
ing army,  numbering  601,730  able-bodied  men,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  and  a  mixed  multitude  of  camp 
followers,  found  '  old  corn  '  in  the  land  sufficient  to  main- 
tain them  from  the  day  that  they  passed  the  Jordan." 

Sully's  saying,  "  tillage  and  pasture  are  the  two 
breasts  of  the  state,"  is  just  as  true  to-day  as  when  the 
expression  was  first  used  ;  and  the  ancient  belief,  that 


THE  REAL  IMPORTANCE   OF  AGRICULTURE.     1 3 

"  no  other  labor  is  at  once  so  good  for  mind  and  body, 
and  so  worthy  of  freemen,  as  agriculture,"  was  one  that 
might  well  be  revived  at  the  present  day. 

It  is  something  more  than  mere  poetic  fancy  which 
designates  "  the  golden  age  "  the  days  when  kings,  and 
priests,  and  philosophers  were  husbandmen.  The  days 
when  love  for  the  occupation,  and  veneration  for  sacred 
customs  pertaining  thereto,  combined  in  producing  a 
happy  people,  in  making  "  the  soil  perpetual,"  in  caus- 
ing the  land  to  "  flow  with  milk  and  honey."  They  were 
the  days  of  national  longevity,  for  agricultural  nations 
were  the  longest  lived,  and  became  the  most  eminently 
accomplished,  and  the  most  wealthy  in  the  truest  sense. 

Whatever  may  be  the  political  economy  of  the  states- 
men of  modern  times,  the  most  eminent  teachers  of  this 
science  have  continued  to  uphold  the  wisdom  of  the 
ancients  in  their  ascribing  to  agriculture  supremacy 
among  national  industries. 

Quesney,  the  French  political  economist  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  urged  that  "  the  sovereign  and  the  nation 
should  never  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  earth  is  the 
unique  source  of  riches,  and. that  it  is  agriculture  which 
multiplies  them."  J.  B.  Say,  another  French  economist  of 
a  later  time,  taught  that  "  it  is  the  acme  of  skill  to  turn  the 
powers  of  nature  to  best  account,  and  the  height  of  mad- 
ness to  contend  against  them,  which  is,  in  fact,  wasting 
part  of  our  strength  in  destroying  those  powers  she  de- 
signed for  our  use." 

Professor  De  Laveleye,  in  his  "  Elements  of  Political 
Economy,"  a  work  recently  published,  earnestly  main- 
tains the  sovereign  worth  of  agriculture.  "  At  the  pres- 
ent time,"  says  he,  "  attention  and  encouragement  are 
exclusively  given  to  manufacturing.     If  it  be  more  im- 


14  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

portant  to  make  men  healthy  and  happy  than  to  inces- 
santly increase  production,  it  is  agriculture  that  deserves 
every  advantage.  Other  industries  are  productive,  since 
they  increase  the  utility  of  things  by  rendering  them  fit 
for  our  use,  but  the  farmer  sets  at  work  not  only  physical 
and  chemical,  but  also  vital  forces,  and  thus  multiplies 
commodities.  He  sows  one  grain  of  corn  and  reaps 
twenty  ;  this  year  he  has  a  couple  of  sheep,  in  a  few 
years  he  will  have  a  flock.  Agriculture  is  the  first  of 
industries,  because  it  is  the  foundation  of  all  others. 
These  can  only  increase  the  number  of  persons  they 
employ  if  the  farms  supply  them  with  more  food." 

It  would  be  unwise  to  ignore  the  counsel  of  this  dis- 
tinguished authority  of  our  own  time,  having  the  inter- 
ests of  no  party  or  class  to  serve,  and  pursuing  his 
investigations  in  the  centre  of  the  great  manufacturing 
enterprises  of  Europe. 

Three  years  ago,  in  one  of  our  journals,  the  author 
published  his  views  on  this  point  in  the  following  words  : 
"  If  we  desire  our  people  to  avoid  sameness  or  single- 
ness of  occupation,  and  corresponding  degradation  of 
faculties,  surely  we  should  not  change  farm  for  factory 
life.  If  it  be  for  the  possession  of  a  great  variety  of 
comforts  and  pleasures  for  our  use  as  consumers,  un- 
doubtedly that  occupation  which  we  are  best  prepared  to 
develop,  that  is  indigenous  to  the  country,  that  will  yield 
the  largest  quantity  of  that  measure  which  has  in  its  power 
the  command  of  all  wealth  ;  while  no  occupation  offers 
a  greater  multiplicity  of  interesting  subjects  for  study 
and  experiment  than  agriculture." 

Deeper  and  more  extended  study  has  not  changed  our 
opinion  of  this  view  of  the  merits  of  the  occupation  of 
husbandry,  but  it  has  impressed  us  even  more  with  its 
importance. 


THE  REAL   IMPORTANCE   OF  AGRICULTURE.     1 5 

What  opportunities  it  should  offer  for  the  practical 
application  of  a  broad  education,  useful  and  entertain- 
ing to  the  intelligent  being  ;  an  education  embracing  the 
physical  sciences,  geology,  chemistry,  botany,  and  vegeta- 
ble physiology,  as  well  as  the  historical  and  classical 
branches  ;  the  cultivation  of  a  refinement  which  finds 
expression  in  taste,  order,  and  beauty,  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  trees  for  fruit,  protection,  or  ornament,  as  well 
as  of  the  field  and  garden  plots  ;  an  intellectual  culture 
which  has  quite  as  much  a  place  in  the  bringing  into 
being  of  the  crop  of  corn,  potatoes,  or  grains,  as  an 
elaborate  education  for  the  clergyman  or  the  lawyer  ;  a 
culture  which  should  lead  the  possessor,  above  all  others, 
to  most  profitable  admiration  of  the  wondrous  works  of 
the  Great  Creator  ! 

Turning  our  attention  to  the  rural  economy  of  the 
British  Isles,  we  find  its  history  bearing  most  conclusive 
testimony  to  the  transcendent  importance  given  in  the  past 
by  Britons  to  agriculture,  in  its  economic,  its  social,  and 
its  national  bearings.  Since  the  days  of  the  Great  Charter 
love  for  rural  life  has  been  a  national  characteristic  with 
the  English  people,  while  a  large  proportion  of  English 
statesmen  have  had  their  chief  care  in  legislating  for  the 
interests  of  the  country.  Even  to-day,  31  per  cent,  of  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  is,  in  some  way,  connected 
with  the  landed  interests.  We  may  well  claim  that  with 
few  other  nations  has  the  seat  of  economic,  social,  and 
political  power  been  longer  retained  in  the  country  ; 
notwithstanding  the  vexed  problems  which  have,  for 
centuries,  surrounded  her  land-holding  system. 

England's  sovereigns,  with  few  exceptions,  have  also 
shared  with  the  people  this  attachment  for  country, 
taking  the  greatest  interest  in  rural  pursuits,  while  the 
nobility — the  temporal  lords — have  always  prided  them- 


1 6  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

selves  on  being  a  rural  aristocracy.  Moreover,  English 
literature,  in  a  marked  degree,  displays  this  peculiar 
national  trait,  England's  poets — Milton,  Cowper,  Spenser, 
Gray,  Shakespeare,  Thomson,  and  Wordsworth — have 
lauded  in  song  the  delights  of  rural  life. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  American  Republic,  the  ad- 
vancement of  agriculture  was  the  first  care  of  most 
American  statesmen,  and  many  of  them,  such  as  Webster, 
Clay,  and  Adams,  found  the  peaceful  pursuits  of  the 
farm  a  wholesome  change  from  the  abstracting  cares  of 
statesmanship.  Thomas  Jefferson  invented  the  hill-side 
plow.  The  first  President  Harrison  and  Abraham  Lin- 
coln were  familiar  with  log-cabin  life  in  their  early  days. 

Washington,  however,  who  was  inaugurated  first  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  just  one  hundred  years  ago  this 
year  (April  20,  1889),  was,  far  above  his  compeers,  the 
great  friend  of  American  agriculture.  This  great  man, 
who  led  the  armies  of  the  Revolution,  who  was  twice  Presi- 
dent, who  "  was  by  general  consent  the  father  of  his 
country,"  was  more  a  farmer  than  soldier  or  politician. 
In  fact,  husbandry  was  to  him  an  occupation  of  the 
highest  order,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  only  the  im- 
perative demands  of  his  country  which  drew  him  away 
from  his  rural  pursuits  to  the  military  or  political  arena. 

Immediately  after  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  Washing- 
ton retired  to  his  estates  in  Virginia.  About  this  time, 
in  a  letter  to  Lafayette,  he  remarks  :  "  I  am  become  a 
private  citizen  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  and  under 
the  shadow  of  my  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  free  from  the 
bustle  of  camp,  and  the  busy  scenes  of  public  life.  I  am 
solacing  myself  with  these  tranquil  enjoyments,  of  which 
the  soldier,  who  is  ever  in  pursuit  of  fam'e  ;  the  states- 


THE   REAL   IMPORTANCE    OF  AGRICULTURE.      I J 

man,  whose  watchful  days  and  sleepless  nights  are  spent 
in  devising  schemes  to  promote  the  welfare  of  his  own, 
perhaps  the  ruin  of  other  countries,  as  if  this  globe  were 
insufficient  for  us  all  ;  and  the  courtier,  who  is  always 
watching  the  countenance  of  his  prince,  in  hopes  of 
catching  a  gracious  smile,  can  have  little  conception.  I 
have  not  only  retired  from  all  public  enjoyments,  but  I 
am  retiring  within  myself,  and  shall  be  able  to  view  the 
solitary  walk,  and  tread  the  paths  of  private  life  with  a 
heartfelt  satisfaction.  Envious  of  none,  I  am  determined 
to  be  pleased  with  all ;  and  this,  my  dear  friend,  being 
the  order  of  march,  I  will  move  gently  down  the  stream 
of  life,  until  I  sleep  with  my  fathers." 

During  the  eight  years  of  which  Washington  held  the 
office  of  President,  he  took  every  means  to  impress  upon 
the  minds  of  his  government  and  his  people,  the  import- 
ance of  fostering  agriculture  by  public  patronage.  To 
Sir  John  Sinclair,  an  English  gentleman,  he  writes,  under 
date  July  20,  1794:  "I  know  of  no  pursuit  in  which 
more  real  and  important  service  can  be  rendered  to  any 
country  than  by  improving  its  agriculture."  In  his  last 
message  to  Congress  he  refers  to  agriculture  and  its  im- 
portance to  civilization  in  the  following  terms  :  "  It  will 
not  be  doubted  that  with  reference  either  to  individual 
or  national  welfare,  agriculture  is  of  primary  importance. 
In  proportion  as  nations  advance  in  population  and 
other  circumstances  of  maturity,  this  truth  becomes  more 
apparent,  and  renders  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  more  and 
more  an  object  of  public  patronage."  With  Washington, 
successful  agriculture  meant  national  life,  virility,  and 
power. 

Beyond  all  this,  agriculture  as  a  promoter  of  peace  is 
of  vast  importance  to  the  human  family.     For  while  the 


1 8  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

Strife,  both  of  an  international  character  and  between 
classes  and  communities,  has,  as  a  rule,  been  most  in- 
tense for  the  lion's  share  in  production  and  through  ex- 
change, the  farmer — naturally  supplying  his  own  wants 
in  a  large  degree,  or  in  the  centre  of  an  industrial  sys- 
tem of  self-contained  independence — desires  the  privi- 
leges of  peace.  Agriculturists,  the  world  over,  have  a 
common  cause  in  securing  the  inestimable  benefits  of  in- 
dustrial, commercial,  and  international  peace.  Then  De 
Laveleye  is  not  far  wrong  in  claiming  that  "  real  civiliza- 
tion dates  from  the  time  when  man  first  entrusted  a  grain 
of  corn  to  the  soil." 

With  the  agriculturist,  too,  we  may  look  for  social 
security  ;  for  who  can  be  more  desirous  of  preserving 
the  institutions  of  the  country  from  revolutionary  shocks, 
than  those  who  have  property  in  land  with  all  its  valued 
associations  ? 

In  a  word,  the  agriculturists  should  be  valued  as  the 
temperate,  the  physical,  the  mental,  the  religious,  the 
moral,  the  social,  as  well  as  the  best  economic  support  to 
our  civilization.     See  Book  VII. 

If  we  study  the  statistics  of  the  United  States  we  find 
that  they  furnish  most  conclusive  evidence  of  the  vast 
importance  of  the  farm  industries  of  America.  Dimin- 
ished as  they  may  seem  to  be  in  relative  importance,  the 
capital  invested  in  agriculture  exceeds  the  capital  em- 
ployed in  any  other  line  of  production.  Agriculture 
builds  the  railways  of  America,  or  they  are  built  in 
anticipation  of  the  farmers  paying  for  them  ;  it  supports 
directly  the  largest  industrial  class  ;  it  settles  the  princi- 
pal part  of  the  foreign  account  for  two  hundred  and  thirty 
millions  of  crude  articles  of  manufacture  purchased  in 
other  countries — to  say  nothing  of  the  manufactured. 


THE   REAL   IMPORTANCE    OF  AGRICULTURE.     1 9 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  nation's  annual  debt  of 
nearly  a  million  of  dollars  to  foreign  ships  for  carrying 
her  imports  and  exports  to  and  from  the  country  ;  also 
of  the  million  dollars  yearly  accruing  to  foreign  capital 
invested  in  the  country. 

In  Canada,  as  in  the  United  States,  the  farmers  are 
really  at  the  back  of  the  railways  ;  they  give  the  largest 
part  of  the  employment  received  by  her  small  shipping  ; 
send  to  foreign  customers  over  fifty  per  cent,  of  her  total 
exports,  without  which  it  would  be  difficult  for  the  inter- 
est on  the  public  debt  to  be  paid,  and  the  profits  on  for- 
eign capital  invested  in  the  country  to  be  settled.' 

The  importance  of  agriculture,  as  viewed  by  the  early 
writers  of  sacred  history,  is  of  too  much  moment  to  be 
left  unnoticed.  They  claim  that  it  was  in  the  garden  of 
Eden  that  man  commenced  his  labors.  "  Out  of  the 
ground  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow  every  thing  that  is 
pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food,"  and  also  "in 
the  midst  of  the  garden  "  was  the  *'  tree  of  life,"  and  the 
"  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil."  Man  in  the 
image  of  God,  perfect  in  all  essentials,  was  put  "  into  the 

*  That  the  ' '  Trade  and  Navigation  Returns  "  do  not  show  a  very  large 
balance  of  trade  against  Canada  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  she  borrows 
from  abroad  much  faster  than  the  interest  on  her  foreign  debt  is  paid. 
For,  eventually,  all  borrowed  capital  must  come  into  the  country  in 
the  shape  of  material.  Consequently,  it  may  be  very  far  from  the 
fact  to  state  that  the  production  of  any  articles  "would  sweep  away 
the  balance  of  trade  against  her. '.'  That  the  change  has  not  already 
taken  place  in  a  marked  degree  is  because  she  is  still  running  in  debt. 
The  farms  must  pay  these  debts,  or  the  interest  on  these  debts,  through 
exports.  The  policy  of  the  country  has  stopped  the  export  of  manu- 
factured goods.  In  1878  she  exported  manufactured  goods  to  the 
value  of  $4,715,776.  In  1886,  only  $3,306,587.  (This  latter  amount 
was  increased  slightly  in  1888.) 


20  AM  ERICA  IV  FARMS. 

garden  of  Eden,  to  dress  it  and  keep  it."  The  first  trust, 
then,  given  to  man,  was  as  an  agriculturist,  yet,  in  the 
very  presence  of  the  knowledge  with  which  gods  are 
endowed. 

After  the  Fall,  and  when  the  injunction  went  forth  to 
all  the  human  family,  "  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt 
thou  eat  bread,"  we  have  the  first  glimpse  of  a  primitive 
political  economy,  in  the  division  of  labor  between  Cain, 
the  agriculturist,  and  Abel,  the  cattle-farmer.  Farther 
on,  a  greater  division  was  made  between  the  sons  of 
Lamech, — Jabal,  Jubal,  and  Tubal-Cain.  In  this  division 
cattle-farming  and  agriculture  stood  first ;  the  second  was 
the  harp  and  organ,  which  represents  music,  language, 
literature,  and  the  fine  arts,  whose  special  ofiices  are  to 
cultivate  and  refine  the  higher  faculties  of  man. 

In  political  economy,  agriculture  should  stand  first,  it 
being  a  prime  necessity.  "  It  sets  at  work  the  organic 
forces  for  the  multiplication  of  both  vegetable  and  animal 
life,"  without  which  man's  existence  would  be  impossible. 
To  attain  the  high  and  noble  destiny  of  man,  the  refining 
and  humanizing  influences  of  the  immaterial,  as  repre- 
sented by  Jabal,  are  also  necessary,  as  are  the  class  repre- 
sented by  Tubal-Cain,  or  those  who  deal  with  the  prod- 
ucts of  agriculture  and  the  extracts  from  the  earth, 
turning  them  into  new  forms  of  utility. 

With  our  desire  not  to  ignore  the  fact  that  evidences 
are  presented  on  every  hand  to  show  that  nature  is 
requiring  more  and  more  aid  to  supply  the  increasing 
numbers  of  the  human  family  with  a  subsistence,  calling 
into  play  an  ever-increasing  variety  of  faculties  for  pur- 
poses of  invention  and  fabrication,  we  see  no  reason  why 
this  cannot  be  realized  and  met  by  the  agriculturist  on 
his  own  ground,  and,  in  a  sense,  independent  of  other 


THE   REAL    IMPORTANCE    OF  AGRICULTURE.     21 

classes.  New  conditions  should  find  the  farmer  expand- 
ing his  higher  faculties  to  meet  them  in  the  prosecution 
of  his  own  labors  ;  exercising  not  only  acquisitions 
which  a  liberal  education  should  give,  but  also  of  that 
valuable  instruction  preserved  in  tradition  only — a 
science  **  transmitted  in  fragments  from  father  to  son," 
from  neighbor  to  neighbor,  an  evolution  without  record. 

Taking  societies  in  the  aggregate,  it  is  from  the  farm- 
er's surplus  that  other  occupations  become  possible. 
When  they  take  more  than  this,  they  are  trenching  upon 
the  farmer's  capital  and  estates,  and  if  continued  it  must 
be  but  a  matter  of  time  when  a  crisis  of  vast  proportions 
must  be  the  result.  It  is  after  the  necessities  of  life  are 
satisfied  that  opportunities  arise  for  new  forms  of  pro- 
duction and  consumption. 

The  enjoyment  of  civilized  life  requires  the  full  and 
uninterrupted  development  of  all  the  great  divisions  of 
labor  consistent  with  justice  and  safety  ;  we  cannot  dis- 
pense with  either.  But  it  is  in  rural  life,  surrounded  by 
nature,  that  the  highest  and  grandest  application  of  the 
results  of  all  progress  for  the  development  of  man  is 
possible. 

To  sum  it  all  up,  we  have  science,  our  own  observa- 
tion, and  the  histories  of  civilizations  which  have  come 
and  gone,  all  loudly  protesting  against  a  decline  of 
agriculture. 


CHAPTER  11. 

THE  POSSIBILITIES  OF  ACzRICULTURE. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  old  farms  of  the 
world  are  in  many  instances  showing  signs  of  exhaustion, 
and  that  the  doctrine  of  Malthas  is  still  held  by  very 
many,  we  are  of  the  belief  that  the  possibilities  of  agri- 
culture are  immense.  Under  the  ideal  guidance  that 
would  seem  possible,  no  branch  of  material  development 
suggests  to  the  mind  greater  chances  for  grand  results. 

Did  the  reader,  who  may  happen  to  be  a  farmer,  ever 
think  of  what  a  paradise  could  be  made  of  the  acres 
around  his  dwelling?  What  subjects  for  study  and 
development  of  intellect  could  be  the  possession  of  his 
family  and  society  !  And  did  he  ever  undertake  to  make 
a  calculation  of  what  might  be  raised  on  his  farm  by  the 
proper  mixing  of  soils  and  the  application  of  fertilizers, 
or  how  exceedingly  few  the  acres  which  are  yielding  even 
a  trifle  of  their  possibilities  ? 

Mr.  Edward  Atkinson,  in  his  "  Distribution  of  Prod- 
ucts," states  that  the  average  crop  of  wheat  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada  would  give  one  person  in 
every  twenty  of  the  population  of  the  globe  a  barrel  of 
flour  in  each  year,  with  enough  to  spare  for  seed.  The 
land  capable  of  producing  wheat  is  not  occupied  to  any 
thing  like  one  twentieth  of  its  extent.  We  can  raise 
grain    enough    on   a  small  part  of  the  territory   of  the 


THE  POSSTBILITIES   OF  AGRICULTURE.         23 

United  States  to  feed  the  world.  United  States  Consul- 
General  Way  reports  that  "  Russia,  under  favorable 
conditions,  could  supply  the  world  with  wheat."  India 
could  probably  do  the  same,  and  the  Argentine  Republic 
would  not  fall  far  behind. 

A  single  State,  properly  fertilized,  is  capable  of  bear- 
ing vegetables  to  feed  the  population  of  the  whole 
Union.  And  there  is  enough  fertilizer  in  Boston  harbor 
to  meet  this  requirement  for  very  many  years.  There 
are  States  in  the  West  equal  to  the  task  of  supplying 
meat  for  the  whole  people  of  North  America  if  the  lands 
were  properly  treated.  The  little  Annapolis  Valley  in 
Nova  Scotia  has  sufficient  apple-orchard  area,  with  trees 
in  bearing  and  properly  fertilized,  to  produce  sufficient 
apples  to  glut  the  markets  of  Great  Britain  and  New 
England.  The  fertilizer  lies  in  the  Annapolis  basin. 
California  could  be  made  to  supply  this  whole  continent 
with  most  fruits. 

There  can  be  no  exhaustion  of  the  soil  if  properly 
treated.  There  can  be  no  destruction  of  matter  in  the 
consumption  of  the  products  of  the  farm,  but  there  may 
be  displacement.  By  intelligent  guidance  their  forces 
may  be  continually  augmented  for  the  increase  of  both 
animal  and  vegetable  life.  If  the  proper  returns  are 
made  to  the  soil,  the  demands  of  man  upon  it  can  never 
exhaust  it. 

It  is  the  order  of  nature  that  the  surface  of  the  globe 
be  more  and  more  adapted  to  the  support  of  vegetable 
and  animal  life.  The  results  of  decomposition  of  rocks, 
and  the  breathing  of  gases  from  beneath  the  crust  of  the 
earth  and  from  our  broad  oceans,  are  being  taken  up  con- 
tinually by  plant  life  through  its  leaves  and  roots  ;  to 
decay  and  become  soil,  or  to  go  into  animal  matter  ;  all 


24  AM  ERICA  h'  FARMS. 

animal  life  to  find  its  highest  end  in  man  ;  and  the  con- 
sumption of  man  to  return  again  to  the  soil.  But  a 
man,  whose  demand  upon  the  soil  once  required  an 
average  of  eight  hundred  acres  to  supply  him  with 
sufficient  food,  may  now  be  better  supplied  with  the 
products  of  a  single  acre.  Through  the  intelligent 
guidance  of  man,  what  then  may  be  the  possibilities  of 
the  productive  capacity  of  land  ? 

That  man  has  abused  all  these  favorable  natural  con- 
ditions is  patent  to  those  who  study  the  subject.  The 
abuse  is  proved  in  the  success  which  has  attended,  in 
all  cases,  proper  care  to  return  to  the  land  its  due. 
We  have  now  about  one  and  one  half  billions  of  peo- 
ple sustained  on  the  surface  of  the  globe.  What,  in  the 
correct  evolution  of  the  productive  powers  of  the  earth, 
is  there  to  prevent  its  sustaining  one  hundred  times  as 
many  ?  With  these  numbers  so  many  times  increased, 
not  a  particle  of  matter  would  be  destroyed  any  more 
than  now. 

As  the  question  refers  to  America,  deduction  from 
scientific  argument  gives  the  following  result  :  "  In  Eng- 
land the  density  of  population  is  about  389  persons  per 
square  mile  ;  but  England  is  in  some  measure  the  work- 
shop of  the  world,  and  supports,  by  her  foreign  trade,  a 
greater  population  than  the  soil  can  nourish.  In  France 
the  density  of  population  is  about  177  ;  in  Germany  it 
varies  from  100  to  200.  On  these  grounds  we  may 
assume  that  the  number  of  persons  which  a  square  mile 
can  properly  sustain,  without  generating  the  pressure  of 
a  redundant  population,  is  150  at  the  latitude  of  50,°  and 
26  is  the  number  which  expresses  the  productiveness  of 
this  parallel.  Then  taking,  for  the  sake  of  simplicity,  35 
as  the  index  of  the  productiveness  of  the  useful  soil  be- 


THE   POSSIBILITIES   OF  AGRICULTURE.         25 

yond  30°  in  America,  and  85  as  that  of  the  country  within 
the  parallel  of  30°  on  each  side  of  the  equator,  we  have 
about  4,000,000  square  miles,  each  capable  of  supporting 
490  persons.  It  follows  that,  if  the  natural  resources  of 
America  were  fully  developed,  it  would  afford  sustenance 
to  3,600,000,000  of  inhabitants,  a  number  nearly  three 
times  as  great  as  the  entire  mass  of  human  beings  now 
existing  upon  the  globe."  ' 

But,  after  all,  the  theory  of  Malthus,  that  moral  re- 
straint must  be  exercised  for  the  prevention  of  famines, 
only  teaches  that  men  must  suffer  when  their  supply  of 
food  does  not  increase  with  the  increase  of  their  number. 
The  moral  standard  required  is,  moreover,  movable,  and 
it  is  quite  as  likely  to  becoiTie  a  social  condition,  under 
favorable  circumstances  of  food  supply,  as  when  the 
supply  is  low.  With  a  true  progress  man's  desires  take 
higher  forms  ;  they  seek  expression  in  the  exercise  of  his 
better  faculties  ;  not  as  a  beast,  he  must  live  ;  his  is  an 
archetype  of  a  grand  and  noble  purpose.  Where  the  na- 
tional supply  of  food  has  dropped  too  low  to  give  the  peo- 
ple a  comfortable  subsistence,  it  has  always  resulted  from 
a  congested  state,  brought  about  through  the  sway  of  a 
false  condition  in  social  organizations.  Society  is  con- 
vulsed because  of  some  men's  inability  to  gain  the  bread 
which  their  associates  believe  their  requirements  demand. 
These  convulsions  are  becoming  not  far  removed  from 
civil  war. 

And  :  "  What  is  man,  the  animal  who  builds  cities,  and 
excavates  docks,  and  lays  wires  under  the  ocean,  and 
drives  ships  over  it  ?  Is  he  not  a  land  animal,  whose 
very  body  is  composed  of  land  ?  What  are  his  produc- 
tions but  the  bringing  forth  of  land  materials  drawn  from 

'  "  Encyclopsedia  Britannica,"  vol.  i.,  p.  717. 


26  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

land,  by  moving,  combining,  separating  them  so  as  to 
satisfy  his  designs  ?  Look  in  every  direction  ;  see  land 
half  used,  or  not  used  at  all.  Why  should  there  be  any 
scarcity  of  work  ?  Why  should  men,  willing  to  work, 
suffer  and  strain  for  the  want  of  the  things  that  work 
produces,  while  land,  the  natural  source  and  means  of  all 
production,  is  so  abundant  ?  There  is  no  reason  in  the 
nature  of  things."  ' 

We  may  well  ask  what  are  the  possibilities  of  agricul- 
ture, or  to  what  extent  may  the  earth,  when  properly 
treated,  be  fruitful  and  multiply  for  the  satisfaction  of 
man,  when  the  science  which  may  be  brought  to  her  aid 
is  studied,  and  its  teachings  followed  ?  when  mankind 
looks  upon  it  as  it  should,  as  the  greatest  of  all  the 
sciences,  or  the  science  of  which  others  are  only  a  part  ? 

To  this  end — namely,  that  lands  "be  fruitful,"  and 
man  prosper — it  is  necessary  that  every  agricultural 
community  be  a  centre  of  interest  to  society  in  general ; 
that  society  seek  the  agriculturist,  and  not  that  the  agri- 
culturist seek  society  ;  that  the  city  seek  the  country,  not 
the  country  the  city.  If  he  (the  agriculturist)  prospers, 
they  will  come  to  him.  Make  drafts  upon  him  of  all 
sorts,  to  be  consumed  away  from  his  land,  and  his  prod- 
ucts must  go  abroad  in  any  case  to  satisfy  this  demand  ; 
he  will  have  nothing  to  spend  on  society  at  home. 

With  a  numerous  and  prosperous  land-holding  class, 
production  will  be  large  and  competition  natural,  and 
monopoly  in  agriculture  will  not  be  thought  of.  Nu- 
merous country  towns  are  far  more  desirable  for  the 
indirect  benefit  of  agriculture  than  the  growth  of  a  few 
though  wealthy  cities.  Between  the  former  and  the  agri- 
culturists, there  is  much  more  likely  to  be  a  real  com- 

>  Henry  George  in  the  North  American  Review,  October,  1889. 


THE  POSSIBILITIES  OE  AGRICULTURE.         27 

munity  of  interests  than  with  the  latter.  That  such 
towns  may  grow  and  prosper,  it  is  required  that  the 
industry  of  agriculture  be  first  prosperous,  as  a  base  of 
general  industrial  power.  Agriculture  must  be  treated 
as  the  leading  industry — not  of  secondary  importance. 

It  is  not,  then,  a  correct  political  economy  which  de- 
termines that  manufacturing  leads  husbandry,  as  the 
protectionists  would  have  it ;  nor  that  trade  should  lead, 
as  many  free  traders  desire  ;  but  that  agriculture  be  the 
first,  the  only  true  condition. 

Mr.  Henry  C.  Carey  was  correct  when  he  advocated  the 
theory  :  "  That  man  may  cease  to  be  enslaved,  and  that 
agriculture  may  become  a  science,  it  is  indispensable 
that  there  be  a  division  of  employments  ;  that  his  facul- 
ties be  stimulated  to  activity  ;  that  the  power  of  associa- 
tion arise  ;  that  the  market  for  his  products  be  brought 
to  the  neighborhood  of  the  land  ;  that  the  utility  of  all 
the  things  yielded  by  it,  whether  in  the  form  of  food 
or  vegetable  fibre,  coal,  ore,  lime,  or  marl  be  thus  in- 
creased ;  that  its  owner  be  thereby  freed  from  the 
enormous  taxation  to  which  he  is  subjected  because  of 
the  extending  necessity  for  effecting  changes  of  place  ; 
that  he  be  freed,  too,  from  the  extraordinary  waste  of 
human  power,  physical  and  mental,  that  always  attends 
the  absence  of  diversity  in  the  modes  of  employment ; 
and  that  the  powers  of  the  land  be  increased  by  means 
of  the  constant  repayment  to  it  of  the  manure  yielded  by 
the  consumption  of  its  products."  ' 

'  Carey  was,  however,  far  from  correct  in  his  claim  that  even  the 
extreme  measures  which  he  advocated  could  bring  about  the  freedom 
and  community  of  interests  which  he  desired,  the  very  opposite  being 
the  evident  experience  of  America,  as  she  has  approached  them. 


BOOK   11. 

A   FAR-REACHING   DISORDER. 

Rome,  in  the  days  of  Servius,  presented  to  view  a  numerous  body 
of  small  proprietors,  cultivating  the  land  they  owned.  Later,  we 
find  palaces  owned  by  Scipios  and  Pompeys — the  land  having  become 
consolidated,  and  the  free  proprietors  having  disappeared.  Fixed 
property  declined  in  value,  while  slaves  increased  in  number,  and 
bankers  in  wealth  and  power. — Henry  C.  Carey. 


CHAPTER  I. 

TROUBLES    OF    THE    AGRICULTURISTS    OF   ANCIENT 
TIMES. 

In  a  former  chapter  we  suggested  a  desire  to  make  the 
inquiry  as  to  whether  we  have  set  about  a  solution  of  an 
old  difficulty.  A  careful  survey  of  the  histories  of  the 
nations  of  antiquity,  such  as  that  of  Israel,  Greece,  and 
Rome,  will  convince  the  student  that  the  agrarian  ques- 
tion and  trouble  to  land  properties  has  been  an  extremely 
old  subject  of  national,  as  well  as  individual,  concern. 

The  husbandmen  of  Israel  had  their  days  of  glory, 
when  the  whole  land  of  Palestine,  to  use  the  description 
of  one  of  England's  great  writers,  was  "a  magnified  copy 
of  our  finest  ideal  of  landscape  gardening,  "  "  laughingly 
beauteous,"  "sumptuously  rich,"  "lavishly  varied." 
But  we  find  that,  though  with  its  mountain-clad  vine- 
yards, its  olive  groves,  its  palm  plantations,  its  orchards 
of  dates,  its  pomp  of  fruit,  and  with  its  boundless  store 
to  its  votaries,  yielding  its  "thirty  to  one  hundred-fold," 
it  finally  failed  to  be  the  land  of  prosperous,  happy  homes 
for  intelligent  men. 

The  hills  of  Benjamin  and  Judah,  with  once  a  "  teem- 
ing population "  of  husbandmen,  are  now  the  home  of 
wild  beasts  ;  fertile  Esdraelon  and  luxuriant  Carmel  are 
inhabited  by  a  few  unintelligent  beings  ;  and  the  high- 
lands of  Galilee,  "  with  no  appearance  of  life  except  the 

31 


32  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

occasional  goatherd  on  the  hill-side,  or  the  gathering  of 
the  women  at  the  wells."'  The  old  farms  of  Palestine 
have  been  all  abandoned,  and  the  sons  of  the  fathers  and 
founders  of  so  much  that  we  prize  wander  about  in  the 
world,  bereft  of  social  or  political  influence  anywhere. 

As  to  the  Grecian  Republic,  its  history  teems  with 
accounts  of  vexatious  changes  and  disturbances  on  ac- 
count of  land  difficulties.  Plutarch,  in  his  "  Lives," 
speaks  frequently  of  the  disorders  of  the  state,  which  he 
attributes  to  agrarian  troubles.  Lycurgus,  with  a  power 
that  seems  marvellous  to  us,  upsets  the  whole  of  the  land 
titles,  in  order  to  give  back  to  thousands  a  share  in  the  soil. 

A  few  hundred  years  later  and  the  country  is  plunged 
in  civil  war  over  these  land  troubles.  Agis  and  Cleo- 
menes  meet  death  through  an  attempt  to  grapple  with 
these  difficulties  : — landed  property  in  the  hands  of  "  the 
few,"  "  and  the  rest  of  the  people  poor  and  miserable." 
Poor  and  miserable  was  evidently  the  correct  descrip- 
tion of  the  peasantry  of  the  Grecian  Republic  as  it 
approached  its  many  social  and  political  crises. 

A  hint  only  seems  necessary  to  remind  the  intelligent 
reader  that  most  disastrous  misfortunes  overtook  the 
rural  citizens  of  the  Roman  Republic  and  Empire,  before 
their  overthrow.  Roman  gods  and  goddesses  were  un- 
equal to  the  task  of  saving  the  small  landed  proprietors 
from  destruction  ;  for  it  amounted  to  that. 

The  land-holders  must  have  been  very  numerous  at 
one  time,  especially  at  the  period  when  seven  acres  con- 
stituted the  limit  of  the  extent  of  the  individual  estate. 
The  vast  majority  of  these,  with  their  posterity,  not 
only  had  their  grievous  difficulties  to  contend  against, 
but  were  finally  dispossessed  of  their  properties.     "  Ex- 

'  Dr.  Cunningham  Geikie. 


TROUBLES   OF  ANCIENT   TIMES.  33 

tensive  parks,"  controlled  by  the  favored  few,  took  the 
place  of  the  once  very  numerous  peasantry.  The  free 
Roman  citizen  disappeared  from  the  old  farms,  and  the 
cultivation  of  the  soil  was  given  over  to  the  "  slave 
gangs."  Tiberius  Gracchus,  who  undertook  to  grapple 
with  the  trouble,  said  of  his  unfortunate  fellow-citizens  : 
"  They  are  called  *  masters  of  the  world,'  and  have  not 
a  foot  of  ground  in  their  possession ;  without  homes, 
without  any  fixed  abode,  they  wander  from  place  to 
place  with  their  wives  and  children." 

It  is  not  required  to  pursue  this  farther,  to  show  that 
we  have  not  entered  upon  the  solution  of  an  altogether 
new  problem,  or  a  problem  which  has  not  a  counterpart 
in  some  important  particulars,  at  least,  with  the  fallen 
civilizations. 

2* 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   DIFFICULTY    FAR-REACHING   TO-DAY. 

Where  is  the  country  at  the  present  time  which  has 
not  to  face  serious  questions  in  relation  to  agriculture  ? 
Taking  a  hasty  glance  at  the  chief  countries  of  Europe, 
such  as  Italy,  France,  Germany,  Belgium,  and  Great 
Britain,  we  find  not  one  of  them  whose  thinking  men 
do  not  see  in  this  matter  (as  it  concerns  themselves) 
cause  for  reflection. 

Rural  Italy  has  of  late  years  been  experiencing  a 
crisis  in  agriculture.  The  condition  became  so  serious 
that  a  government  commission  was  set  at  work  about  ten 
years  ago  to  investigate  the  matter.  Their  labors  cov- 
ered a  term  of  seven  years,  and  the  final  report  appeared 
in  1885.  The  substance  of  the  report  was  to  the  effect 
that  the  peasantry  of  Italy  are  "  poor  and  miserable, 
leading  a  life  of  wretche'd  existence,  to  which  emigration 
alone  offers  a  recourse  "  ;  that  "  nearly  150,000  Italians 
quit  the  country  every  year  "  ;  that  "  half  the  children, 
die,  under  seven  years,  in  the  Marches  "  ;  that  "  families 
live  together  sometimes  to  the  number  of  forty  "  ;  that 
"  in  the  mountain  districts  the  whole  family  live  in  one 
smoky  room,  with  their  pigs,  their  goats,  and  their 
chickens."  This  is  certainly  a  gloomy  picture  of  the 
condition  of  modern  rural  Italy,  the  garden  of  Europe. 

Like  Italy,  France  has  made  these  matters  a  subject 
34 


THE  DIFFICULTY  FAR-REACIIING    TO-DAY.     35 

of  parliamentary  inquiry,  and  it  is  found  that  the  agri- 
cultural class  are  in  a  very  unhappy  condition.  The 
Institute  Natural  of  Paris  reported  some  time  ago,  that 
in  parts  of  France  peasants  are  living  like  beasts.  Of 
eight  millions  of  land  proprietors,  three  millions  are  now 
looked  upon  as  subjects  of  charity. 

As  to  Germany,  one  government  commission  after 
another  has  been  issued  to  look  into  the  state  of  agricul- 
tural troubles.  They  find  that  in  many  parts  of  the 
empire,  farm  mortgages  are  eating  up  the  peasants'  little 
properties,  that  the  condition  is  any  thing  but  satisfac- 
tory ;  and  many  schemes  are  proposed  to  alleviate  their 
distresses. 

These  matters  in  Belgium  have  also  become  a  subject 
of  parliamentary  notice.  In  every  province  in  the  land 
a  government  representative  has  been  stationed  to  ren- 
der the  farmers  assistance,  but  still  the  trouble  goes  on. 
In  Russia,  not  only  are  the  peasants'  properties  in  very 
many  cases  loaded  with  debt,  but  the  owners  them- 
selves actually  mortgaged  for  many  years  in  advance. 
As  to  Great  Britain,  her  land  troubles  are  a  subject  of 
every-day  conversation.  We  all  know  that  efforts  tow- 
ard their  solution  consume  a  very  large  portion  of  the 
time  of  the  British  statesman.  This  glance  over  Europe 
will  suffice  to  remind  us  that  we  are  dealing  with  a  diffi- 
culty of  large  proportions. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   AMERICAN   FARMER'S   WANING   ECONOMIC 
POWER. 

Most  students  of  social  science  will  admit  that  in  all 
stages  in  the  growth  of  nations  and  of  society,  the  indi- 
viduals or  the  classes  .which  have  had  the  largest  shafe 
in  the  general  wealth  have  possessed  immense  advan- 
tages over  those  less  abundantly  supplied.  Such  pos- 
sessions have  truly  given  them  the  "  power  of  position  "  to 
command  men  as  well  as  things.  The  early  farmers  of 
America  could  well  boast  of  being  the  wealth  producers, 
as  well  as  the  wealth  controllers  of  the  Western  world  ; 
a  power  of  position  which  could  reasonably  defy  oppres- 
sion from  the  hands  of  others. 

I  am  aware  that  the  aggregate  apparent  wealth  of  the 
agricultural  and  pastoral  classes  has  increased  in  the 
last  fifty  years,  and  that  the  average  farmer  may  be  in  a 
sense  better  conditioned  than  he  was  half  a  century  ago  ; 
but  so  is  the  ordinary  citizen,  in  a  sense,  better  off  than 
the  foremost  citizen  of  primitive  times.  Even  the  average 
pauper  of  to-day  is,  in  a  sense,  better  circumstanced,  than 
the  most  successful  of  the  earliest  pioneers  in  material 
progress.  As  much  could  be  said,  perhaps,  for  the 
slave  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  her  palmy  days,  as  com- 
pared with  the  free  savage  of  an  earlier  period.  At  any 
stage  of  development,  however,  the  successful  ones,  or 

36 


AMERICAN  FARMER'S  ECONOMIC  POWER.      37 

those  who  have  made  the  greatest  progress  in  gathering 
wealth,  have  secured  the  power  of  position  over  their 
contemporaries — the  power  to  dictate  terms.  This  has 
been  a  rule,  with  few  if  any  exceptions,  all  the  way  up. 

The  typical  American  farmer  once  held  such  control 
of  the  national  purse  strings  ;  even  in  the  year  1850,  the 
farmers  of  the  United  States  could  boast  of  possessing 
60  per  cent,  of  the  capital  power  of  the  Union.  It  is 
not  easy  to  give  a  sufficiently  high  estimate  to  this  rela- 
tive power,  secured  and  maintained  as  it  was  by  indi- 
vidual effort.  It  undoubtedly  secured  for  its  possessors 
a  commanding  influence  in  political  and  social  affairs, 
while  fostering  a  most  desirable  spirit  of  independence. 

This  power,  however,  which  was  really  on  the  wane  in 
1850,  though  60  per  cent,  of  the  total,  sank  to  53  per 
cent,  in  i860.  This  decline  of  relative  wealth  has  con- 
tinued until  the  present  day.  In  1880,  it  had  gone  down 
to  40  per  cent,  and  it  is  probably  not  more  than  35  per 
cent,  to-day. 

Further  than,  this,  I  say,  the  farmer's  power  is  declin- 
ing, absolutely  as  well  as  relatively.  In  i860  there  were 
2,044,077  farms  in  the  United  States  ;  in  1880,  4,008,907. 
In  i860  the  total  value  of  farm  property  was  $7,980,493,- 
063,  or  an  average  of  $3,904  per  farm  ;  in  1880  the  value 
of  the  total  value  was  $12,104,001,  or  an  average  of 
$3,019  per  farm.  Up  to  i860  the  farmers  held  their 
ground,  or  rather  increased  the  value  of  their  possessions, 
but  from  that  date  to  1880  the  shrinkage  has  been 
equivalent  to  $885  per  farm,  and  we  have  every  reason 
for  supposing  that  this  decline  is  still  going  on. 

In  1870  the  property  of  the  farmers  of  the  six  New 
England  States  was  valued  at  $707,942,439  ;  in  1880  it 
had  fallen  to  $671,846,058.     Is  this  not  a  serious  change 


r^anr: 


38  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

— a  change  that  demands  searching  inquiry  ?  Have  we 
not  in  it  a  question  quite  equal  to  the  vexed  question 
between  labor  and  capital,  the  unequal  distribution  of 
land  ?     Or,  are  they  not  parts  of  one  great  question  ? 

But,  let  us  review  the  opinions  held  thirty  years  ago, 
as  to  the  relative  importance  of  agriculture  in  some  of 
the  New  England  States.  Our  eye  rests  upon  a  volume 
of  the  New  England  Farmer  for  the  year  1854,  and  from 
an  editorial  we  extract  the  following  emphatic  passage  : 

"In  the  year  1850,  the  improved  land  of  the  State 
(Massachusetts)  amounted  to  2,133,436  acres,  and  the 
cash  value  of  the  farms  was  $109,076,347  ;  the  imple- 
ments and  machinery  were  worth  $3,209,584  ;  the  value 
of  the  live-stock  was  $9,649,710  ;  and  the  value  of  rye 
and  Indian  corn  of  that  year  was  $2,857,732  ;  to  say 
nothing  of  hay,  fruit,  root  crops,  which  would  be  as 
much  more.  These  sums  find  the  farmer  investing 
capital  and  producing  crops  in  a  single  year  to  the 
amount  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  millions  six 
hundred  and  fifty-one  thousand  one  hundred  and  five 
dollars. 

"  The  other  principal  industrial  pursuits  gave,  for  the 
same  period,  in  the  cotton  and  woollen  manufacture,  in 
pig-iron,  castings,  wrought-iron,  malt  and  spirituous 
liquors,  and  tanneries,  an  aggregate  of  eighty  millions 
three  hundred  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty -four  dollars, 
leaving  a  balance  of  forty-seven  millions  three  hundred 
and  fifty-one  dollars  in  favor  of  the  industry  of  farming." 

In  this  State,  the  value  of  the  productions  of  Indian 
corn,  wheat,  and  rye  has  fallen  from  $2,750,000  in  1854 
to  $1,750,000  in  1887.  The  value  of  live-stock  has  risen 
from  $9,649,710  in  1850  to  only  $12,957,004,  or  an 
average  yearly  increase  of  $89,386  :  not  quite  one  per 
cent,  per  year. 


AMERICAN  FARMER'S  ECONOMIC  POWER.      39 

In  1865  the  pounds  of  beef  slaughtered  were  70,000,- 
000  ;  in  1885,  only  10,000,000.  The  potato  crop  in  1845 
amounted  to  4,767,000  bushels  ;  in  1885  it  was  reduced 
to  3,584,000  bushels. 

In  1845  the  production  of  wool  reached  the  fine  figure 
of  1,015,000  pounds  ;  in  1885  the  insignificant  amount  of 
255,000  pounds. 

Most  startling,  however,  is  the  fact  that,  while  the 
total  value  of  property  rose  from  $573,343,286  in  1850 
to  $2,795,000,000  in  1880,  the  value  of  farm  property 
only  rose  from  $121,935,641  in  1850  to  $164,288,956  in 
1880.  That  is  to  say,  while  the  valuation  of  the  property 
of  the  people  of  the  whole  State  increased  by  171  per 
cent,  in  thirty  years,  the  per  capita  valuation  of  the 
farmers'  property  increased  by  only  30  per  cent.  ;  the 
value  of  farm  land  declining  $5,929,142  in  the  ten  years 

1875-85. 

As  in  Massachusetts,  the  production  of  grain  in  New 
Hampshire  has  declined.  In  1853  it  amounted,  in  wheat, 
Indian  corn,  rye,  buckwheat,  and  oats,  to  2,988,982 
bushels  ;  but  in  1880,  to  only  2,665,912  bushels. 

In  1853  the  production  of  potatoes  was  4,304,916 
bushels,  in  1880,  3,358,828  ;  of  hay,  598,854  tons  in 
1853,  in  1880,  583,665  tons  ;  of  cheese,  3,196,663  pounds 
in  1853,  in  1880,  807,076  pounds. 

The  value  of  live-stock  for  this  State  was  $8,871,901 
in  1853,  and  only  $9,81 2,064  in  1880 — an  increase  of  only 
a  fraction  over  10  per  cent,  in  twenty-seven  years.  The 
production  of  fruit  has  no  doubt  much  increased,  but 
with  this  exception  and  the  slight  increase  in  live-stock 
and  that  of  butter,  the  falling  off  has  been  alarmingly 
large  in  every  line. 

'  This  decline  was  from  $116,629,849  to  $110,700,707. 


40  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

It  is  admitted  now,  on  all  sides,  that  farm  industry  is 
not  progressing  in  New  England  ;  rather,  fast  losing 
ground.  We  have  found,  however,  that  not  long  since 
the  foremost  public  men  of  New  England  thought  other- 
wise. Not  only  were  they  satisfied  with  the  progress  of 
their  time,  but  were  sanguine  believers  in  a  prosperous 
future  for  the  farmers  of  their  several  States. 

The  following,  a  portion  of  Governor  Fairbanks'  ad- 
dress to  the  General  Assembly  of  Vermont,  in  session 
December,   i860,  takes  the  same  view  : 

"  From  an  abstract  of  the  seventh  United  States  cen- 
sus, it  appears  that  in  1850  there  were  in  this  State 
2,600,409  acres  of  improved  land, — a  quantity  exceeding 
that  of  any  other  New  England  State  ;  and  that  our 
agricultural  products  of  that  year  exceeded  in  quantity 
those  of  any  of  the  same  States  in  the  articles  of  live- 
stock, butter,  cheese,  wool,  wheat,  oats,  potatoes,  hay 
and  a  variety  of  other  crops. 

"  The  value  of  live-stock,  as  shown  by  that  census,  was 
$12,643,228,  and  the  aggregate  of  farm  productions  for 
that  year  shows  a  valuation,  including  live-stock,  of 
about  $25,000,000,  being  nearly  equal  to  $80  for  each  in- 
dividual of  our  population. 

"  The  well-known  industry  of  our  citizens  engaged  in 
agricultural  pursuits  and  the  capabilities  of  our  soil,  have 
been  made  available  for  increasing  the  amount  of  these 
products  under  the  stimulus  of  augmented  prices  conse- 
quent upon  the  opening  of  railway  communication  with 
the  markets.  It  may  therefore  be  assumed  that  this 
department  of  industry  has  not  only  maintained  its 
relative  importance,  but  that  it  has  during  the  intervening 
years,  since  the  above  data,  experienced  a  constant  and 
healthful   growth   and   increase.     Still    it   is   conceived 


AMERICAN  FARMER'S  ECONOMIC  POWER.      4 1 

that  it  is  capable  of  far  greater  development  and  a  much 
more  abundant  increase. 

"  Vermont  is  essentially  an  agricultural  state.  The 
great  body  of  its  citizens  are  engaged  in  agricultural 
pursuits.  The  salubriousness  of  its  soil  and  the  variety 
of  its  physical  structure  adapt  it  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
most  essential  and  profitable  crops  and  to  the  successful 
prosecution  of  sheep  and  cattle  husbandry.  Other  im- 
portant interests  exist,  and  are  successfully  prosecuted  ; 
but  it  is  to  this  essentially  that  we  are  to  look  for  the  most 
marked  and  healthy  growth  of  the  state  in  wealth  and 
prosperity." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  message  of  Gov- 
ernor Martin  to  the  legislature  of  New  Hampshire  in 
1853  :  **  Agriculture  is  our  leading  interest,  and,  although 
our  state  is  more  mountainous  than  any  of  our  neigh- 
boring states,  yet  we  can  justly  boast  of  large  quantities 
of  luxuriant  intervale  ;  our  uplands  are  productive,  and 
afford  a  pasturage  unrivalled  in  excellence.  Nowhere 
can  the  necessaries,  conveniences,  and  comforts  of  life  be 
found  combined  in  greater  abundance.  Our  lands,  im- 
proved and  under  tillage,  number  2,251,448  acres  ;  value 
of  farms,  $55,245,997  ;  farming  implements  and  ma- 
chinery, $2,314,125  ;  live-stock,  $8,871,901  ;  orchard 
products,  $248,563  ;  domestic  manufactures,  $393,455. 
We  raise  an  average  crop  of  185,658  bushels  of  wheat, 
183,117  bushels  of  rye,  1,573,970  bushels  of  Indian  corn, 
973,381  bushels  of  oats,  70,856  bushels  of  buckwheat, 
4,304,919  bushels  of  potatoes,  and  we  produced  1,108,- 
476  pounds  of  wool,  6,977  pounds  of  butter,  3,196,663 
pounds  of  cheese,  1,294,863  pounds  of  maple  sugar, 
598,854  tons  of  hay.  Let  the  young  farmers  of  this 
state  estimate  the  foregoing   products  of  the  farm  and 


42  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

dairy  at  fair  average  prices,  and  see  what  a  fine  aggregate 
of  values  they  will  have  as  the  result,  bearing  in  mind 
the  while,  that  he  who  most  increases  the  productiveness 
of  the  earth  is  the  greatest  benefactor  of  his  race."  He 
followed  this  by  claiming  that,  although  all  classes  in 
the  State  were  thriving  and  prosperous,  the  remark  was 
especially  applicable  to  the  department  of   agriculture. 

It  is  important  for  us  to  note  that  agriculture  had  the 
lead  in  this  portion  of  America  at  that  time,  and  that  the 
first  government  functionaries  thought  it  destined  to 
experience  a  still  higher  measure  of  success  in  the  future. 
They  saw  nothing  for  the  farmers  to  fear,  but  a  great 
deal  to  give  them  courage. 

The  decadence  of  the  agricultural  interests  of  New 
Hampshire  and  Vermont  is  now  the  object  of  official  in- 
vestigation. Mr.  B.  Valentine,  Commissioner  of  Agri- 
culture for  Vermont,  finds  that  good  areas  of  tillable  land 
can  be  bought  in  his  State  at  prices  approximating  those 
of  Western  lands.  Two-hundred-acre  farms,  with  "  fair 
buildings,"  good  orchards,  and  plenty  of  timber,  are 
being  sold  for  less  than  $i,ooo.  In  some  counties  large 
tracts  of  land,  of  fair  quality,  can  be  bought  for  three  or 
four  dollars  per  acre.  Town-Clerk  Fuller,  of  Vershire, 
Vermont,  says  :  "  We  have  many  abandoned  farms  in 
different  parts  of  our  towns,  with  good  buildings  on  them, 
that  could  be  bought  for  five  dollars  or  less  per  acre. 
All  this  land  was  once  occupied  by  thrifty  and  prosperous 
farmers." 

In  45  agricultural  towns  in  Connecticut  the  decrease 
of  wealth  in  the  eleven  years  1865-76  amounted  to 
$1,893,  172  ;  between  1876  and  1886  the  decrease  ran  up 
to  $2,741,520.  Out  of  603  farmers  interviewed,  378 
show  a  yearly  loss.     As  we  travel  away  from  New  Eng- 


AMERICAN  FARMER'S  ECONOMIC  POWER.      43 

land  to  more  western  lands,  we  meet  the  same  cry — the 
decline  of  agriculture.  The  report  on  the  financial 
affairs  of  the  farmers  of  Nebraska  (1887-88)  shows  that 
of  215  farmers,  over  50  per  cent,  stated  that  they  were 
losing  money. 

Under  the  head  of  "  Mortgaged  Farms  "  we  will  deal 
further  with  the  relative  condition  of  the  Western  farmer. 
But,  while  touching  the  subject,  we  may  say  that  the 
relative  capital  power  of  the  Western  farmer  is  waning, 
as  is  that  of  the  Eastern,  though  not  so  apparent  in  its 
rapidity. 

From  an  article  on  "  Commercial  Union,"  to  be  found 
in  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith's  "  Hand-Book  of  Reciprocity," 
written  by  Mr.  Thomas  Shaw,  Secretary  of  the  Perma- 
nent Central  Farmer's  Institute,  Hamilton,  Ontario,  we 
extract  the  following  :  "  In  1882  the  farmers  of  Ontario 
were  worth  $882,624,610,  in  1886  they  were  worth  $989,- 
497,911.  The  advance  of  these  four  years  has  been 
$106,873,301,  or  an  advance  on  the  average  capital  in- 
vested for  the  four  years,  $948,302,805,  or  .028  per  cent. 
The  manufacturers  of  the  Dominion  made  an  advance 
of  42  per  cent.,  less  the  running  expenses,  exclusive  of 
wages,  in  the  years  of  1880  and  1881." 

The  Bulletin  from  the  Bureau  of  Industries  for  Ontario 
published  in  August,  1889,  reports  the  value  of  farm 
property  to  have  increased  during  the  past  year  from 
$981,368,094  to  $982,210,664,  an  increase  of  about  one 
tenth  per  cent.  ;  probably  not  more  than  the  increase  in 
the  amount  of  farm  mortgages. 

The  Worthy  Master  of  the  Dominion  Grange,  in  an  ad- 
dress at  Toronto,  in  the  autumn  of  1886,  contended  that 
the  wealthy  amongst  the  farmers  were  comparatively 
few,  and  that  "  as  matters  exist  the  farmer  can  never 


44  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

cope  with  the  overwhelming  odds  that  are  pitted  against 
him." 

Said  the  St.  John  Sun  (Conservative)  in  its  editorial  of 
July  24,  1888  :  "  In  the  Eastern  Provinces  of  Canada 
the  natural  hay  land  holds  its  own  in  value  ;  but  arable 
land,  except  in  particular  localities,  is  not  increasing  in 
price  ;  while  in  districts  remote  from  railway  connection 
there  is  an  undoubted  decline  in  values.  In  those  parts 
of  Ontario  where  the  farmers  have  given  their  attention 
largely  to  raising  grain  for  export,  agricultural  lands  are 
said  not  to  be  increasing  in  price."  This  admission  is 
important,  as  it  comes  from  a  source  not  likely  to  make 
it  if  there  were  not  the  best  of  grounds  for  such  con- 
clusions. 

Thus  we  find  in  various  ways  the  power  of  position  is 
passing  from  the  agriculturists  of  America. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

FARM    MORTGAGES. 

Probably  no  better  proof  of  the  loss  of  the  farmer's 
relative  capital  power  is  required  than  in  his  growing  de- 
pendence for  his  capital  on  the  successful  men  of  other 
occupations.  And  it  certainly  is  an  unquestionable  in- 
dication of  coming  disaster,  if  this  demand  for  aid  by  the 
farmer  be  growing  faster  than  the  increase  in  the  value 
of  his  possessions.  Fifty  years  ago  farm  mortgages  were 
rare  in  America  ;  to-day  they  are  the  rule  in  many  locali- 
ties ;  and  everywhere  they  threaten  to  defy  the  farmer's 
efforts  to  contend  with  the  load  they  create. 

It  is  claimed  of  New  England  '  that  at  least  ^^^  per 
cent,  of  the  farms  are  mortgaged  to  the  capitalists.  Few 
undertake  to  deny  this  startling  declaration.  In  fact,  it 
is  generally  admitted.  But,  while  some  see  in  this  grow- 
ing evil  in  the  New  England  farmer's  financial  condition, 
the  result  of  a  malady  which  extends  its  destructive 
influence  over  the  whole  continent,  others  find  a  cause 
wholly  in  the  unequal  competition  of  the  Western  rival. 
The  grounds  for  the  latter  contention,  though  in  a  certain 
sense  of  great  importance,  are  not  enough,  since  serious 
troubles  are  overtaking  the  Western  competitor. 

'  In  Connecticut,  out  of  603  farms  recently  visited  by  an  investiga- 
tion, 241,  or  34  per  cent.,  valued  at  $1,008,350,  were  mortgaged  to  the 
extent  of  $451,109, 

45 


46  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

The  New  York  State  Agent  reported  about  eighteen 
months  ago  that  "  there  are  large  numbers  of  farms  that 
were  purchased  ten  years  ago  and  mortgaged,  which 
would  not  now  sell  for  more  than  the  face  of  the  mort- 
gages, owing  to  the  depreciation  of  the  farm  lands, 
which  on  an  average  is  2>Z  P^r  cent,  in  ten  years. 
Probably  one  third  of  the  farms  in  the  State  would 
not  sell  for  more  than  the  cost  of  the  buildings  and 
other  improvements,  owing  to  this  shrinkage.  .  .  . 
Thirty  per  cent,  of  the  farms  in  the  State  are  mortgaged, 
ranging  from  2  per  cent,  of  their  value  to  100  per  cent.  ; 
average,  66f  per  cent,  of  estimated  value.  These  securi- 
ties are  held  by  retired  or  more  successful  farmers, 
merchants,  savings-banks,  and  insurance  companies." 

While  the  State  agent  claimed  that  "  still  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  farmers  of  New  York  are  prosperous, 
one  cannot  but  be  startled  by  a  report  from  an  official 
source,  that  the  farm  lands  of  the  leading  State  in  the 
Union — a  State  having  advantages  superior  to  most 
others — had  declined  in  value  33  per  cent,  in  ten  years, 
and  that  one  third  of  the  farms  in  the  State  would  not 
sell  for  more  than  the  cost  of  the  buildings  and  other 
improvements,  owing  to  the  shrinkage."  The  State  of 
New  York  contains  within  its  limits  some  of  the  largest 
centres  of  production  and  consumption  in  America,  and 
it  also  contains  as  good  land  as  is  to  be  found  anywhere. 
Then  why  should  not  the  tillers  of  this  soil  prosper  ? 

The  State  of  Ohio  has,  according  to  official  reports, 
an  assessed  valuation  of  real  estate  amounting  to 
$1,220,262,525,  on  which  are  291,000  mortgages,  forming 
a  total  indebtedness  of  $330,999,205,  much  of  which  is, 
however,  upon  other  than  farm  lands. 

Mr.  Heath,  Commissioner  of  Labor  Statistics  of 
Michigan,   has   recently  reported    on    the   mortgage  in- 


FARM  MORTGAGES.  47 

debtedness  of  the  farmers  of  his  State.  He  stated  that 
he  has  reports  from  90,803  farms,  or  58  per  cent,  of  all 
the  farms  in  the  State.  The  assessed  valuation  of  all 
farms  reported  is  $194,854,663,  upon  which  there  is  a 
mortgage  indebtedness  of  $37,456,272,  or  a  little  more 
than  19  per  cent,  of  the  total  assessed  valuation,  and 
nearly  47  per  cent,  on  that  of  the  farms  mortgaged. 
The  assessed  valuation  of  the  farms  in  the  State  is 
$335,378,025,  upon  which  the  estimated  mortgage  in- 
debtedness is  $64,392,580,  with  an  annual  interest 
charge  of  $4,636,265  on  farms  alone. 

The  opinion  of  the  Labor  Commissioner  of  Michigan, 
that  the  mortgages  upon  the  farms  of  that  State  operate 
"  as  a  mammoth  sponge  "  upon  the  labor  of  the  owners,' 
is  the  growing  feeling  of  the  majority  of  farmers  all 
over  America — the  older  parts  at  least.  The  farms  of 
Michigan  surround  the  great  iron  industries  of  the  West. 
The  State  now  contains  large  centres  of  population,  and 
its  lands  are  fertile  and  productive,  and  yet  the  farmers 
are  evidently  on  the  downward  track. 

Says  a  Southern  journal  :  "  Think  of  it  !  In  as  pros- 
perous a  State  as  Michigan  47  per  cent.,  or  nearly  half, 
of  the  farms  are  mortgaged.  In  Georgia,  if  one  would 
take  the  trouble  to  examine  the  clerks'  offices  in  the 
different  counties,  a  condition  of  affairs  equally  bad, 
perhaps  worse,  would  be  brought  to  light." 

The  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  for  the  State  of  Illinois 
has  issued  reports  which  show  that  the  farm  lands  of  the 
State  have  mortgages  upon  them  to  the  amount  of  $123,- 
733,098,  not  including  Cook  County. 

As  to  Nebraska,  official  reports  do  not  indicate  a 
happy  condition  of  affairs  in  that  State  in  reference  to 
this  matter.  The  reports  of  1887-88  deal  with  215 
farmers   scattered  all  over   the  State.      An  analysis  of 


48  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

these  reports  shows  that,  of  the  215  farms,  113  are 
mortgaged. 

Seventy-five  per  cent,  of  farms  of  Dakota  are  mort- 
gaged for  an  aggregate  amount  of  ^50,000,000.' 

The  New  York  Times  of  December  27,  1886,  con- 
tained a  long  article  from  Mr.  Frank  Wilkeson  on  the 
condition  of  the  farmers  of  Kansas.  He  said  :  "  It  is  a 
financial  impossibility  in  this  era  of  agricultural  com- 
petitive warfare  for  a  farmer  of  average  intelligence  and 
skill  who  tills  a  farm  of  100  acres  of  land,  except  corn 
land,  to  lift  a  mortgage  of  say  $1,000,  with  money  earned 
by  growing  staple  crops.  ...  I  can  safely  say  that 
nine  tenths  of  all  the  uplands  lying  west  of  the  ninety- 
seventh  meridian  are  really  small  grain  lands,  which  are 

'  According  to  the  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  Statistics 
for  Illinois,  "the  mortgage  indebtedness  of  farmers  for  borrowed 
money  has  increased  twenty-three  per  cent,  since  1880  in  this  State, 
twice  the  increase  in  the  value  of  farm  lands."  Twenty-five  counties 
are  reported  to  have  increased  their  value  of  farm  lands,  twenty-three 
have  decreased,  and  in  sixteen  the  values  have  remained  the  same. 

"  It  is  now  twenty  years  at  least  that  farming  has  been  going  rapidly 
downward.  Farms  bought  in  the  war  era  have  been  selling  almost 
everywhere  in  the  East  for  one  half  to  07ie  third  of  their  cost.  Farms 
in  New  England,  and  some  in  the  Middle  States,  are  frequently  sold 
for  less  than  the  buildings  cost  which  are  upon  them.  This  is  really 
no  exaggeration.  Sales  of  this  sort,  and  where  the  depreciation  in 
value  has  wiped  out  the  owner's  equity  in  them,  have  been  for  years  a 
matter  of  notorious  knowledge  in  almost  every  Eastern  community. 
Within  a  year,  in  a  healthy  and  fertile  county  not  sixty  miles  from 
New  York,  a  farm  having  on  it  two  mortgages — a  first  mortgage  of 
$3,000  and  a  second  mortgage  of  $2,000 — was  sold  under  foreclosure 
for  the  sum  represented  by  the  first  mortgage  only.  The  holder  of 
the  second  one  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  be  present,  or  to  have 
a  representative  present  at  the  sale,  to  bid  the  single  dollar  which 
would  have  saved,  or  made  a  show  of  saving,  his  investment." 

JoEi,  Benton,  in  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Nov.,  1889. 


FARM  MORTGAGES.  49 

Utterly  unfit  to  produce  corn,  excepting  in  excessively 
wet  seasons." 

The  picture  given  of  life  on  Saturday  in  a  Kansas 
town  is  certainly  a  startling  one  :  "  It  matters  not  how 
dull  the  town  has  been  during  the  week,  on  Saturday 
the  streets  are  crowded  with  people  ;  on  that  day  chat- 
tels are  sold  to  satisfy  the  overdue  mortgages.  At  pres- 
ent these  sales  are  numerous  in  the  West,  outside  of  the 
corn  belt,  and  a  very  large  portion  of  these  do  not  real- 
ize sufficient  to  pay  the  mortgages.  Teams,  wagons,  or 
horned  stock,  which  six  months  ago  were  considered 
ample  security  for  a  loan  of  from  $100  to  $150,  fre- 
quently fetch  at  public  auction  25  per  cent,  less  than  the 
price  of  the  mortgage." 

So  important  has  the  question  of  increased  mortgage 
indebtedness  become,  that  the  Cleveland  Administration 
thought  itself  justified  in  appropriating  $250,000  for  col- 
lecting the  statistics  relating  thereto. 

*'  Mr.  Henry  M.  McDonald,  President  of  the  Traders' 
Bank,  Pierre,  Dakota,  estimates  that  the  volume  of 
Western-mortgage  business,  confined  chiefly  to  Kansas, 
Nebraska,  Minnesota,  and  Dakota,  has  reached  the  sum  of 
$150,000,000  yearly.  It  may  exceed  his  figures.  That 
it  is  of  great  magnitude  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  in  all 
Eastern  cities  (and  in  most  of  the  towns  and  villages) 
are  located  numbers  of  agents  who  make  a  living  from 
the  commissions  paid  them  for  securing  loans.  Boston 
numbers  more  than  fifty  agencies  of  farm-mortgage  com- 
panies. It  is  computed  that  Philadelphia  alone  nego- 
tiates yearly  more  than  $15,000,000  on  Western  loans. 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  have  134  incorporated  mortgage 
companies.  The  companies  organized  under  the  laws 
of  other  States,  but  operating  in  these  two   States,  in- 

3 


50  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

crease  the  number  at  least  200.  In  this  reckoning  no 
account  is  taken  of  firms  and  individuals,  although  a 
large  amount  of  money  is  directly  invested  by  lenders  of 
this  class."  ' 

One  feature  of  importance  to  be  observed  in  this 
mortgage  business,  is  the  fact  that  the  chief  part  of  the 
power  to  put  in  bonds  the  lands  of  America  comes  not 
from  the  country,  but  from  the  city  ;  while  the  country 
is  gaining  no  equivalent  power  over  city  interests  of 
any  kind. 

As  to  the  oppressive  nature  of  the  Western  farm  mort- 
gages the  Chicago  Times  says  :  "  The  syndicates  tliat 
loan  money  at  from  one  to  three  per  cent,  per  month  are 
mainly  made  up  of  Scotch,  English,  and  New  England 
capitalists,  who  have  their  agents  throughout  the  South 
and  West.  These  mortgages  are  falling  due,  and  soon 
an  immense  number  of  Southern  and  Western  farms 
will  be  in  the  hands  of  foreign  mortgageors.  .  .  .  The 
territories  are  covered  with  mortgages  on  new  farms 
not  yet  patented.  In  some  of  them  the  law  has  permit- 
ted outrageous  interest,  so  that  the  farm-mortgage  busi- 
ness has  grown  into  immense  proportions.  In  many 
districts  half  of  the  settlers  borrow  money  at  high 
interest  to  pay  the  small  price  required  by  the  govern- 
ment in  proving  up.  This  is  leading  to  widespread  dis- 
aster. The  object  of  the  pre-emption  law  is  perverted. 
Eastern  and  foreign  capitalists  get  the  land  with  such 
improvements  as  the  settler  has  put  upon  it.  The  settler 
loses  all  by  reason  of  the  exorbitant  interest  he  is  com- 
pelled to  pay." 

There  are  those  who  would  fain  establish  the  idea  that 
these  growing  financial  embarrassments  upon  the  farms  of 

'  W.  F.  Mappin  in  Political  Science  Quarterly,  September,  1889, 


FARM  MORTGAGES.  5 1 

America  are  *'  an  evidence  of  thrift  rather  than  the  con- 
trary." Borrowed  capital  has,  no  doubt,  enabled  many 
Western  farmers  to  push  their  enterprises  with  a  success 
which  they,  probably,  would  not  have  attained  without  it. 
But  the  payment  of  the  interest  on  Western  farms,  with 
wheat  at  80  cents  per  bushel,  is  quite  a  different  matter, 
as  compared  with  the  time  when  this  cereal  commanded 
a  price  30  per  cent,  higher.  It  was  a  different  matter 
when  the  lands  yielded  an  average  of  30  bushels  of  corn 
to  the  acre,  as  compared  with  20  bushels  now — when 
heavy  outlays  for  fertilizers  are  required  to  secure  a 
crop. 

Farm  mortgage  is  a  comparatively  new  disease  with 
the  agriculturists  of  America.  Fifty  years  ago,  the  farmer 
who  was  obliged  to  put  a  mortgage  on  his  farm  was  con- 
sidered next  to  insolvent,  and  its  clearance  was  thought 
highly  improbable.  They  are  so  numerous  now  that 
their  increase  is  hardly  noticed  by  the  rural  communities. 
But  I  believe  that  at  the  present  day  not  more  than  50 
per  cent,  of  mortgaged  farms  are  released,  except  by 
change  of  ownership. 

Before  us  is  the  address  of  Mr.  R.  Wilkie,  the  Worthy 
Master  of  the  Dominion  Grange  Patrons  of  Husbandry, 
delivered  at  a  session  of  the  Order  in  Toronto,  Novem- 
ber, 1886.  From  this  high  authority  we  learn  that  a 
large  proportion  of  the  lands  of  the  Dominion  are,  like 
the  United  States  farms,  becoming  hopelessly  incum- 
bered. He  said  :  "  Doubtless  a  very  large  amount  of 
capital  is  invested  in  farming  ;  but  much  of  it  belongs 
to  capitalists,  and  is  only  loaned  on  the  land — a  very 
large  proportion  of  which  is  under  mortgage  much 
greater  than  most  people  suppose,  and  much  of  it  is 
hopelessly  sunk     .      .      .      The  only  hope  that  still  re- 


52  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

mains  in  many  cases  is  that  the  land  may  be  sold  for 
something  more  than  the  amount  of  encumbrance.  If 
any  one  doubts  this,  let  him  turn  to  the  number  of  ad- 
vertisements of  farms  for  sale.  The  newspapers  are  full 
of  them.  And  hundreds  of  land  agents  throughout  the 
country  are  furnishing  long  lists  free  to  any  expectant 
purchaser.  The  owners  of  these  lands  are  not  men  who 
are  retiring  on  their  fortunes,  nor  are  they  men  who  de- 
sire to  engage  in  other  pursuits.  A  large  proportion  of 
them  are  men  who  are  selling  to  save  the  little  which 
still  remains,  there  being  no  longer  any  hope  of  saving 
the  farm." 

From  what  can  be  gathered  from  other  sources,  the 
picture  drawn  by  the  Worthy  Master  is  not  overdrawn  as 
regards  Ontario.  The  lowest  estimate  puts  the  mortgage 
indebtedness  upon  the  farms  of  this  province  at  $58,- 
000,000.  The  Montreal  yournal  of  Commerce  recently 
stated  that,  "  as  the  possibility  of  the  mortgages  ever 
being  paid  off  is  so  remote,  the  interest  may  fairly  be 
looked  upon  as  a  fixed  annual  charge." 

We  may  well  ask  :  "  Who  are  to  own  the  farms  of 
America  ? " 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE  CAPITALISTS  GAINING  THE  LAND— THE  TYPICAL 
AMERICAN  FARM. 

The  definition  of  an  American  farm,  as  given  by  Web- 
ster, is  :  "A  portion  or  tract  of  land  consisting  usually 
of  grass  land,  meadow,  pasture,  tillage,  and  woodland, 
cultivated  by  one  man,  and  usually  owned  by  him  in 
fee."  His  definition  of  a  farm  in  Great  Britain  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  A  tract  of  land  leased  on  rent  reserved  ;  ground 
let  to  a  tenant  on  condition  of  his  paying  a  certain  sum, 
annually  or  otherwise,  for  the  use  of  it." 

As  a  rule,  the  typical  American  farm  was,  and  is, 
worked  by  the  owner  and  his  family,  with  sometimes  the 
assistance  of  hired  help  for  a  large  portion  of  the  year, 
but  frequently  without  any  help  beyond  the  family,  and 
an  extra  gang  for  the  haying  season.  He  was  and  is 
virtually  landlord,  capitalist,  and  laborer.  His  lands  do 
not  support  an  idle  aristocracy  ;  he  was  and  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  usurer,  and  he  depends  in  the  main  upon 
his  own  industry,  the  sweat  of  his  own  brow,  for  the 
part  that  man  must  do  to  fill  his  granaries,  or  for  the 
power  to  satisfy  the  wants  of  himself  and  family. 

First,  then,  the  typical  American  farmer,  with  his  grass- 
land, meadow,  pasture,  tillage,  and  woodland,  chiefly 
depending  for  its  care  and  cultivation  upon  his  own 
exertions,  was  and  is  what  is  now  called  a  small  farmer. 

53 


54  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

Second,  the  typical  American  farmer  was  and  is,  usually, 
an  owner. 

In  order  to  show  the  present  tendencies  towards  large 
estates,  we  will  divide  the  large  from  the  small  at  too 
acres,  and  compare  those  above  and  below  at  different 
periods,  say  i860  with  1880.  In  the  year  i860,  of  the 
2,044,077  land-holdings  in  the  United  States,  1,387,614, 
or  67  per  cent,  were  of  the  classes  100  acres  and  under. 
In  Canada,  the  census  of  1881  found  the  lands  in  hold- 
ings of  100  acres  and  under,  to  the  extent  of  71  per  cent, 
of  the  total.  From  this  we  draw  the  conclusion  that 
farms  of  100  acres  and  less  have  been  the  rule.  Such 
have  been  the  typical  farms. 

Such  farmers  providing  their  own  capital,  both  for  the 
ownership  of  their  lands  and  the  prosecution  of  their 
business,  and  depending  chiefly  upon  their  own  labors, 
needed  no  extensive  areas.  Indeed  large  areas  would  be 
an  intolerable  encumbrance  to  the  owners,  as  the  fencing 
of  even  a  200-acre  farm  would  be  a  severe  tax  on  their 
time.  It  is  true  that  in  many  cases,  such  as  those  which 
formed  the  estates  of  Virginia,  the  original  grants  were 
large  blocks  of  land,  but  in  those  early  days  when  such 
grants  were  made,  they  were  not  taken  for  speculative 
purposes,  as  now,  or  for  carrying  on  a  wholesale  com- 
petition in  agriculture.  And  when  a  community  did 
really  get  down  to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  or  to  gen- 
eral farming,  it  was  on  small  plots  or  town  lots  that  the 
farmers'  labors  were  prosecuted,  and  each  farmer  was  a 
proprietor. 

We  have  stated  already  that  in  i860,  67  per  cent,  of 
the  land-holdings  were  of  the  classes  occupying  100 
acres  and  under.  The  census  of  1880,  however,  showed 
that  a  rapid  change  had  been  made  during  the  decade 


THE    TYPICAL   AMERICAN  FARM.  55 

in  reversing  this  condition  ;  of  4,008,907  holdings, 
only  2,208,374  were  of  the  classes  named  ;  of  the  classes 
between  ten  and  one  hundred  acres  there  were  2,069,133, 
or  51  per  cent.,  while  those  over  100  acres  had  risen  to 
1,800,533.' 

Still  more  important  does  this  rapid  change  appear, 
when  we  compare  each  class  by  their  acres.  Then  we 
begin  to  realize  something  of  the  real  magnitude  of  the 
change.  So  far  as  we  can  gather  from  the  census  reports 
in  i860,  not  more  than  30  per  cent,  of  the  farm  lands 
were  held  by  owners  of  over  100  acres  ;  in  1880,  not 
less  than  75  per  cent,  was  in  the  hands  of  this  class.  In 
i860,  the  acres  in  possession  of  holders  of  above  500 
acres  were  (taking  the  lowest  limit  of  average)  not  over  4 
per  cent,  of  the  total  ;  in  1880,  not  less  than  12  percent. 

It  may  be  contended  that  all  these  movements  toward 
increase  in  the  average  size  of  land-holdings  are  taking 
place  only  in  the  West,  where  foreigners  have  absorbed 
so  much  of  the  land  that  the  old  States  are  holding  to 
their  normal  conditions.  Even  if  this  were  the  case,  it 
would  not  do  much  to  disprove  the  statement  that  the 
typical  American  farm  was  disappearing  ;  but  what  are 
the  facts  even  in  this  case  ?  We  select  three  of  the  most 
prominent  of  the  farming  States  of  New  England,  for  the 
purpose  of  comparison — Massachusetts,  Maine,  and  Ver- 
mont. These  old  States  contained,  in  i860,  94,723  holders 
of  land  of  100  acres  and  under  ;  in  1880,  only  73,892  ; 
whereas,  of  holdings  of  upwards  of  100  acres,  there  was 
an  increase  of  34,435,  or  from  23,412  to  57,847. 

In  the  foregoing  calculation  all  holdings  below  ten 
acres  are  included.     In   1880  they  amounted  to  about  5 

^  It  must  be  remembered  that  but  for  the  subdivision  of  plantations 
in  the  South,  since  i860,  the  total  change  in  the  comparative  decrease 
of  small  holdings  would  appear  far  more  conspicuously. 


56  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

per  cent,  of  the  total  for  these  States.  They  probably 
represent  the  number  of  holdings  occupied  by  other 
classes  than  tillers  of  the  soil.  But  ten  acres  and  under 
have,  in  many  cases,  supported  families.  We  are  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  startling  fact  that  20,821  of  the 
typical  farms  of  these  States  during  the  twenty  years, 
1860-80,  had  either  been  abandoned  to  the  wilds  alto- 
gether, or  become  attached  to  the  large  estates.  No 
doubt  the  transformation  has  been  in  both  directions. 
If  in  either,  however,  the  changed  condition  is  one  for 
serious  thought. 

One  of  America's  most  famous  economists  *  states  that 
between  1875  and  1885  the  woodland  of  Massachusetts 
increased  49.64  per  cent.  In  this  State  the  tacking-on 
must  have  been  very  considerable,  as  the  number  of 
holdings  above  500  acres  had  increased  in  the  twenty 
years — 1860-80 — by  254,  while  the  cultivated  land  had 
fallen  from  2,133,436  to  2,128,311  acres. 

In  the  State  of  Maine  the  holdings  of  over  100  acres 
were  only  9  per  cent,  of  the  total  in  i860  ;  in  1880  they 
were  39  per  cent.  In  i860  there  were  only  2  holders 
of  estates  exceeding  1,000  acres  ;  in  1880  there  were  116. 

Using  the  lowest  limit  of  the  census  figures,  we  find 
that  there  were  64,550  acres  of  the  lands  of  Massachu- 
setts, Maine,  and  Vermont  in  the  hands  of  holders  of  up- 
wards of  500  acres  in  the  year  i860,  but  in  1880  these 
acres  had  swollen  to  856,000.  Using  the  medium  figures 
for  the  10-  to  50-acre  holdings,  there  were  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  1,624,485  acres  of  farm  lands  in  these  small 
divisions  in  i860,  but  in  1880  only  1,009,750. 

With  such  figures  as  these,  culled  from  official  sources, 
who  can  deny  that  the  lands  of  New  England,  and,  in 
'  Hon.  David  A.  Wells. 


THE    TYPICAL  AMERICAN  FARM.  57 

fact,  of  the  whole  United  States,  are  not  rapidly  assum- 
ing a  shape  other  than  that  represented  by  the  typical 
American  farmer  ? 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Wall  Street  capitalists  are 
becoming  owners  of  vast  tracts  of  Western  lands,  and  that 
Boston  capitalists  are  getting  a  mortgage  grip  upon  the 
New  England  farms,  while  British  capital  is  fast  coming 
to  the  position  of  controlling  more  land  in  America  than 
at  home.  Restricted  in  the  United  States,  it  turns  its 
attention  to  Canada. 

Aliens  may  have  absorbed  the  new  lands  of  Western 
States,  but  how  are  we  to  account  for  the  rapid  absorp- 
tion of  the  small  properties  by  the  large  in  the  East  ? 

A  like  condition  is  developing  in  Canada.  The  great 
Northwest  is  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  moneyed  classes. 
In  Manitoba  44  per  cent,  of  the  land-holdings  in  1880 
were  of  the  classes  above  500  acres  ;  in  the  territories  58 
per  cent,  were  upwards  of  500  acres  in  area.  Sir  Lester 
Key  now  manages  for  a  $2,000,000  syndicate  1,200,000 
acres  of  Canadian  lands. 

By  reckoning  the  i,ooo-acre  classes,  we  have  gained 
but  a  slight  insight  into  the  real  condition  of  affairs,  but 
we  see  enough  to  exemplify  one  important  phase  of  the 
nature  of  the  question  under  discussion. 

3* 


CHAPTER  VI. 


RENTED     FARMS 


Through  the  United  States  census  of  1880  an  effort 
was  made  to  ascertain  the  tenure  of  American  farms, 
with  the  following  result  :  It  was  found  that  out  of  a 
total  of  4,008,907  farms  and  plantations,  1,024,601  were 
rented  for  money  or  worked  on  shares.  This  went  to 
show  that,  at  that  time,  slightly  over  25  per  cent,  of  all 
the  farms  of  the  United  States  were  not  owned  by  the 
occupiers. 

In  studying  the  census  report  still  further,  it  will  be 
found  that  of  the  2,208,374  holdings  of  less  than  100 
acres,  730,702,  or  33  per  cent.,  were  not  owned  by  the 
occupiers.  But  of  the  holdings  of  from  500  to  1,000 
acres,  87  per  cent,  were  owned  by  the  occupiers  ;  and  the 
holdings  of  above  1,000  acres  were  thus  owned  to  the 
extent  of  90  per  cent,  of  the  total.  It  is  true,  the  largest 
proportion  of  rented  farms  is  in  the  South,  where  the 
land  has  been  rented  to  the  negroes  since  their  liberation, 
and  it  is  true  also  that  the  largest  proportion  of  small 
holdings  are  tenanted. 

The  census  statistics,  however,  teach  us  that  at  the 
date  of  their  formation  7  per  cent,  of  the  farms  of  New 
England  were  occupied  by  tenants,  or  one  in  about  every 
fourteen,  and  of  New  York  16  per  cent.,  or  one  in  about 
every  seven.      Farther  west,  on  the  rich  and  productive 

58 


RENTED  FARMS.  59 

lands  of  Ohio,  20  per  cent,  of  the  farms  were  rented,  or 
one  in  every  five. 

In  Canada  a  fraction  less  than  \z\  per  cent,  of  the 
lands  were  rented  in  1880,  or  one  in  about  every  eight — 
owners  and  occupiers  numbering  403,491,  and  tenants  as 
occupiers,  57,245- 

In  the  Maritime  Provinces  one  in  every  fourteen  farms 
was  occupied  by  tenants,  and  in  Ontario  one  in  every 
six. 

In  addition  to  the  discovery  recently  made  by  the  New 
York  State  assessors,  that,  in  fourteen  counties  visited 
farm  land  is  declining  in  value  while  city  property  is  in- 
creasing, sufficient  information  was  gained  on  the  ques- 
tion of  rented  farms  to  warrant  the  State  assessor  in 
forming  the  opinion  that,  *'  in  a  few  years  there  will  be 
few  left  but  tenant  farmers." 

When  we  consider  that  about  25  per  cent,  of  the  small 
farms  of  the  United  States  are  already  in  the  hands  of 
capitalists,  and  thre  occupiers  are  mere  tenants,  and  that 
this  condition  is  on  the  increase,  and  add  to  this  that 
capitalists  have  mortgages  on  at  least  20  per  cent,  of  the 
remainder,  and  further,  that  small  farms  are  disappear- 
ing, we  may  well  say  that  the  typical  industry  of  rural 
America  is  fast  becoming  a  thing  of  the  past. 


CHAPTER  VIL 


ABANDONED     FARMS. 


One  who  has  been  familiar  with  the  past  history  of 
the  farm-homes  of  a  country,  who  has  known  of  the 
struggles  and  triumphs  of  the  early  possessors  of  these 
properties,  cannot  but  be  saddened  when  he  sees  them, 
one  after  another,  abandoned  ;  the  lands  to  become  the 
pasture  domain  of  more  successful  estates,  or  to  be  en- 
tirely given  over  to  the  public  common.  To  be  a  wit- 
ness to  the  industry,  the  planning,  and  the  achievements 
in  moulding,  in  fashioning,  and  in  subduing  these  spots 
to  the  tastes  and  requirements  of  the  occupiers,  and  then 
to  see  them  at  last  entirely  surrendered  to  the  wilderness, 
is  surely  an  impressive  picture,  even  to  the  most  indifferent 
mind.  Such  an  observer  cannot  but  ask  the  question  : 
"  Is  this  not  an  evidence  of  coming  national  decay  ? " 

Large  tracts  of  country — away  from  the  towns  and 
cities — in  the  old  States  and  Provinces  of  America  are 
thus  being  transformed  ;  and  not  only  are  these  manifes- 
tations of  failure  on  the  part  of  our  old  farms  to  hold 
their  own  against  the  conditions  of  the  times  confined 
to  the  old  States,  but  are  rapidly  extending  over  the 
continent. 

The  New  England  farms  have  been  the  first,  however, 
to  succumb.     There  are  several  reasons  for  this,  though 

60 


ABANDONED   FARMS.  6l 

none  of  them  give  any  assurance  that  the  disease  is  not 
to  become  general  among  the  typical  farms  of  America. 

Through  the  Boston  Advertiser,  a  rather  conservative 
journal,  we  have  the  following  graphic  picture  of  the 
desolation  which  already  reigns  over  portions  of  Massa- 
chusetts, once  the  settlements  of  happy  and  prosperous 
farmers  : 

"  Throughout  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  away  from 
the  cities  and  from  the  large  towns,  may  be  met,  besides 
oral  reports,  traces  of  farms  once  yielding  a  support 
to  their  occupants,  but  now  abandoned.  The  signs  of 
former  tenancy  are  to  be  found  in  conditions  varying 
from  the  indications  of  recent  occupancy  to  those  of  a 
generation  or  longer  ago.  Sometimes  the  dwelling-house 
has  a  look  of  neatness,  in  its  white  paint  and  green  blinds, 
not  yet  yielding  much  to  the  weather.  The  barns,  wagon 
sheds,  corn-cribs,  and  other  out-buildings  will  be  black- 
ened, of  course,  from  exposure  of  their  unpainted  surface, 
but  yet  have  in  them  wear  and  utility.  But  the  stillness 
of  a  solitude  haunts  the  place,  and  the  sign,  affixed  to  a 
tree,  '  For  Sale,'  stirs  in  the  practical  observer  the  sus- 
picious question,  Why  ?  He  glances  over  the  undulating 
fields,  where  now  the  grass  is  growing  thinly,  and  thence 
back  to  the  stone  wall,  so  carefully  laid  as  to  suggest  that 
at  some  inspection  by  a  committee  of  an  agricultural 
fair,  it  must  have  won  a  prize.  What  labor  the  red- 
dened and  wearied  hands  must  have  expended  here,  and 
yet  the  sons  have  not  stayed  to  reap  any  profit  from  the 
father's  toil  ! 

''  Again,  the  house  is  not  so  trim.  The  storms  of  several 
decades  have  worn  the  paint  away.  The  clapboards  are 
darkening  in  the  weather.  The  mortar  has  crumbled 
from  between  the  bricks  in  the  chimneys,  so  that  you 


62  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

see  the  light  of  the  sky  through  the  crevices.  Some  of 
the  panes  in  the  windows  are  broken.  The  front  door 
hangs  ajar.  The  winds  sigh  through  the  empty  wood- 
shed. The  out-buildings,  first  to  go,  are  falling  in. 
Acres  of  land  once  cultivated  lie  around.  The  sign 
announcing  the  place  as  being  for  sale  is  broken  and 
hanging  by  a  single  nail,  and  the  words  are  almost 
untraceable. 

"  Another  scene  will  represent  a  ruin.  The  roof  has 
tumbled  in.  The  charming  prospect  of  hill  and  dale  and 
wood  and  setting  sun  is  now  never  more  to  be  shut  out 
from  the  front  door,  where  once  the  busy  housewife  may 
have  sometimes  glanced,  for  the  door  is  swung  far  back 
and  gaping  on  the  scene,  and  no  one  is  there  to  push  it 
to.  At  some  time  or  other  the  barn  fell  down,  and  the 
boards  and  timbers  are  rotting  from  the  repeated  dryings 
and  wettings.  It  is  a  scene  of  desolation.  The  sugges- 
tiveness  of  former  tenancy  imparts  to  it  a  melancholy, 
such  as  a  mere  old  cellar  or  the  traces  of  a  stone  under- 
pinning do  not  have.  These,  too,  may  be  found  some- 
times in  the  midst  of  lonely  woods,  where  the  trees  have 
grown  up  in  tht  fields  formerly  ploughed  and  sowed,  so 
that  the  owner  is  already  counting  on  their  value  at  some 
lone  saw-mill.  But  where  the  remnant  of  a  frame  is 
standing,  it  suggests  the  farmer's  hopes,  the  housewife's 
counsels,  the  ploughboy's  whistle,  once  known  here,  and 
now  gone  forever. 

"  Large  areas  are  now  offered  for  sale.  The  prices 
asked  for  the  land  are  low  compared  with  the  prices 
asked  for  land  in  the  places  where  the  population  is 
growing." 

If  any  State  of  New  England  can  be  said  to  have  made 
verifiable  progress  in  the  past,  it  is  Massachusetts  ;  and 


ABANDONED   FARMS.  63 

yet  the  foregoing  is  the  report  with  which  a  leading  jour- 
nal furnishes  its  readers.     The  article  further  states  : 

"  Take  the  farmers  of  Franklin  County.  It  has  been 
estimated  that  their  average  surplus  of  profit  above 
expense  does  not  exceed  $75  a  year.  In  some  localities 
in  that  county,  a  farmer,  who,  at  seventy-five,  has  ac- 
cumulated $3,000  or  $4,000,  is  thought  to  have  attained 
to  the  greatest  measure  of  success. 

**  But  many  have  found  themselves  unequal  to  the  strug- 
gle between  the  expenses  and  the  profits.  Not,  indeed, 
the  large  proportion  of  the  farmers  of  the  preceding 
generation,  but  the  sons,  who,  though  laborious  and 
well-meaning,  have  not  had  the  discipline  that  comes 
from  originating  an  enterprise,  but  have  depended  upon 
their  father's  training  and  instruction.  In  the  unequal 
battle  they  have  given  up  and  fled  from  the  field." 

The  cause  assigned  for  the  abandoned  farms  of  New 
England '  is  one  that  is  given  by  many — the  competition 
of  the  Western  farms  has  been  too  severe,  and  in  the 
unequal  contest  the  New  England  competitor  has  been 
obliged  to  give  up  and  flee  to  other  parts. 

The  Hon.  David  A.  Wells  says  :  "  A  few  years  ago 
the  inhabitants  of  Ludlow,  formerly  a  most  prosperous 
town  in  Windsor  County,  Vermont,  memorialized  the 
legislature  to  the  effect  that  there  were  twelve  deserted 
farms  within  the  town  limits,  and  asked  permission  to 
guarantee  to  any  persons  who  would  lease  and  work 
them  exemption  from  taxation,  local  and  State,  for  a 
considerable  term  of  years."  He  also  states  :  ''All  over 
New  England,  farms  in  abundance  can  now  be  pur- 
chased for  less  than  the  cost  of  the  improvements  upon 

'  Official  reports  state  that  in  six  towns  in  Massachusetts  the  un- 
occupied dwellings  number  from  ten  to  forty-five. 


64  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

them, — yes,  for  less  than  the  cost  of  the  construction  of 
their  stone  walls." ' 

A  writer  in  the  Grange  Homes,  of  Boston,  mentions 
seeing  farms  sold  in  Vermont  for  less  than  the  cost  of 
the  buildings  upon  them.  He  pertinently  suggests  the 
query  :  The  fathers  among  the  hills  were  poor  ;  but  they 
cleared  away  the  forests,  raised  and  educated  families, 
and  built  homes.  Why  do  the  buildings  now  sell  for 
less  than  they  are  worth,  with  one  or  two  hundred  acres 
of  land  thrown  in  to  make  the  trade  ?  "  Yes,  why  are 
these  lands  being  abandoned  ?  Why  are  the  farmers 
becoming  mere  tenants  ?  Why  are  mortgages  settling 
down  on  the  old  farms  of  America  ?  Why  is  the  wealth 
of  farmers  all  over  the  land  so  little  increased,  when  the 
aggregate  wealth  is  growing  so  rapidly  ?  Why  is  such  a 
large  proportion  of  the  agricultural  class  of  the  world 
groaning  under  the  trouble  of  procuring  the  necessities 
of  civilized  life  ?  Why  all  this,  while  agriculture  stands 
at  the  base  of  all  material  development  ? 

'  The  catalogue  of  the  abandoned  farms  of  New  Hampshire  contains 
particulars  of  352  of  these,  referring  to  which  the  State  Commissioner 
says,  that  "  in  most  instances  these  farms  have  not  been  abandoned 
because  the  soil  has  become  exhausted,  or  from  the  lack  of  natural 
fertility,  but  from  various  causes  appearing  in  the  social  and  economic 
history  of  the  State." 

On  August  II,  1889,  the  New  York  Tribune  had  an  article  on  the 
decline  of  the  farming  industries  of  Vermont,  in  which  it  said : 
"  Good  lands  are  offered  for  sale  as  low  as  $3  an  acre,  and  it  is  said 
that  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  $5  an  acre  the  maximum  price  for 
settlers,  if  the  new  Vermont  boomers  expect  to  compete  with  Western 
lands.  It  may,  as  a  vivid  notion  of  the  extent  to  which  the  depopu- 
lating process  has  gone  on,  be  said,  that  no  difficulty  was  encountered 
in  finding  abandoned  farms  in  one  locality  to  furnish  contiguous 
farms  for  the  first  proposed  colony  of  fifty  families.  In  fact,  four 
such  localities  were  found." 


BOOK  III. 

AGRICULTURE'S   STRUGGLE. 

Man  becomes  more  free  as  the  prices  of  rude  products  and  finished 
commodities  approximate. — Henry  C.  Carey. 

The  whole  question  of  freedom  or  slavery   for   man  is  therefore 
embraced  in  that  of  competition. — Henry  C.  Carey. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   farmer's   COTEMPORARIES. 

It  is  necessary  to  keep  the  fact  well  in  view,  that  there 
are  those  cotemporary  with  the  farmer  who  are  prosper- 
ing, or  who  are  gathering  to  themselves  wealth  and  the 
various  powers  which  abundance  yields. 

In  a  former  chapter  it  was  shown  that  relatively  the 
other  great  classes  in  the  aggregate  were  leaving  the 
farmer  far  behind  in  the  race  for  wealth,  but  nothing 
was  done  to  show  the  position  of  other  special  industries. 

Some  industries  in  America,  like  that  of  agriculture, 
are  in  a  depressed,  if  not  a  ruinous,  condition.  Shipping 
is  prosperous  in  some  countries,  but  going  to  ruin  in 
America.  This  is  admitted  on  all  sides,  and  will  require 
little  verification. 

Manufacturing  stands  out  prominently  as  of  the  utmost 
importance  in  almost  every  dissertation  on  the  industrial 
progress  of  America.  It  certainly  occupies  a  large  place 
in  giving  employment  to  labor,  in  the  production  of 
wealth,  and  to  development  of  various  kinds. 

Its  real  magnitude,  as  well  as  the  importance  which 
the  prevailing  thought  and  political  policies  of  the  time 
evidently  tender  it,  as  compared  with  their  treatment  of 
agriculture,  makes  its  consideration  one  of  great  moment 
in  the  discussion  we  have  entered  upon. 

67 


68  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

By  the  United  States  census  reports  of  1880  we  find 
that  the  capital  engaged  in  mining,  mechanics,  manufac- 
turing, and  in  the  production  of  petroleum  in  the  Union, 
amounted  to  $2,790,000,000,  employing  22  per  cent,  of 
the  industrial  population,  or  3,838,112  persons,  who 
threw  on  the  market  that  year  a  production  valued  at 
$5,679,854,599.  It  is  estimated,  that  of  this  amount, 
$3,394,000,000  went  into  it  in  the  shape  of  raw  material, 
which  would  leave  $2,285,854,599  to  represent  the  net 
production  for  the  year,  or  $595  for  each  person  engaged. 
Employed  in  agricultural  pursuits  were  7,670,493  indi- 
viduals, or  44  per  cent,  of  the  total  industrial  population, 
with  a  capital  of  $12,602,000,000,  whose  products — not 
including  increase  in  value  of  farm  stock — amounted  to 
only  $2,213,402,564. 

A  more  comprehensive  estimate  made  by  Mr.  J.  R. 
Dodge,  Statistician  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture, 
gave  $3,600,000,000  as  the  total  value  of  the  products  of 
agriculture  for  the  census  year  ;  which  amount  includes 
an  allowance  of  $1,000,000,000  for  home  consumption, 
giving  $473  for  each.  The  farmers'  outlay  for  seeds  and 
other  articles  consumed  in  procuring  a  crop  (to  say 
nothing  of  taxes,  insurance,  etc.),  would  average  not 
much  less  than  $100,  leaving  the  average  farmers  of 
America  (including  farm  laborers)  a  net  income  $220  less 
than  the  average  manufacturer.  It  is  claimed  that  farm- 
ers have  been  paying  as  high  wages  to  labor  as  have 
been  paid  by  manufacturers,  and  especially  is  this  the 
case  when  compared  with  the  wages  paid  by  the  great 
cotton  and  iron  industries.  Then  the  farmer,  with  his 
farm,  his  capital,  and  his  labor,  is  receiving  a  share  in  the 
national  income  reduced  in  exchange  value  to  very  small 
proportions  compared  with  the  manufacturer.     Thus  we 


THE   FARMER'S  COTEMPOR ARIES.  69 

find  that  though  the  farmers  are  by  far  the  most  impor- 
tant class  in  numbers,  they  are  of  very  much  less  impor- 
tance in  regard  to  the  exchange  value  of  their  productions. 

Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  states  that  "in  manufacturing, 
the  annual  product  of  each  operative  has  advanced  in  value 
from  $1,100  in  1850  to  $2,015  ^^  1880."  *  The  increase  to 
agriculture  shows  really  no  advance  compared  with  this. 

From  a  computation  of  that  reliable  statistician  Mr.  M. 
G.  Mulhall,  we  find  that  the  per  capita  valuation  of  the 
wealth  of  the  United  States,  exclusive  of  agricultural 
wealth,  rose  from  $250  in  i860  to  $502  in  1880,  or  an 
increase  of  slightly  over  100  per  cent.  Surely  this  does 
not  seem  much  like  decadence. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  value  of  the  agricultural  wealth 
only  increased  by  22.5  per  cent.,  or  from  $280  to  $343 
per  inhabitant  in  the  twenty  years. 

Looking  to  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  of  which  the 
serious  decadence  of  agriculture  is  admitted  or  confirmed 
by  ''official  documents,"  we  find  that  from  the  year  i860 
to  1880,  the  per  capita  valuation  of  property  in  this 
State  rose  from  $662  to  $1,568.  Here  we  find  agriculture, 
in  close  proximity  to  largest  consuming  markets  for  the 
productions  of  agriculture,  absolutely  falling  behind, 
while  others  are  rapidly  advancing. 

At  this  very  time  (1889),  when  so  much  is  said  about 
the  decay  of  the  farm  interests  of  this  State,  reports  come 
to  us  of  enormous  profits  to  many  other  industrial  enter- 
prises within  its  borders  during  the  past  year  (1888).  I 
will  name  those  of  one  city.  Fall  River,  in  the  cotton 
manufacturing  industry. 

Four  mills,  with  a  capital  of  $2,500,000,  declared  earn- 
ings of  $663,000,  or  26  per  cent,  upon  their  capital. 

'  "  Triumphant  Democracy." 


70  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

The  Amoskeag  Cotton  Company  is  reported  to  have 
cleared  in  the  past  year  (1888)  $425,000.  It  paid  a 
dividend  of  25  per  cent.,  and  put  4  per  cent,  by  for 
surplus. 

Many  branches  of  commerce  and  manufacturing  in 
this  old  State  are,  no  doubt  suffering  from  a  lop-sided 
trade,  owing  to  the  restrictive  character  of  the  fiscal  pol- 
icy of  the  Union,  but  capital,  even  in  this  State,  is  gath- 
ering more  and  more  power. 

In  the  Empire  State,  agricultural  property  declines  ; 
but  here  we  find  that  the  average  wealth  of  some  classes 
must  be  increasing  at  a  very  rapid  rate.  The  per  capita 
valuation  of  property  in  this  State  was  only  $475  in  i860  ; 
but  in  1888  it  had  risen  to  $1,499.  ^^  1^9°  i*  will  not 
be  less  than  $2,000. 

Going  farther,  to  the  State  of  Ohio,  of  which  it  has 
been  said  one  half  of  the  whole  assessed  value  of  the 
farm  lands  is  covered  by  mortgages,  the  per  capita  valu- 
ation of  property  rose  from  $510  in  i860  to  $1,032 
in  1880. 

In  the  city  of  Cleveland,  of  this  State,  is  the  great 
Rolling-Mill  Company,  owned  by  the  three  Chisholms, 
of  which  Mr.  Erastus  Wiman  remarked  in  his  speech  at 
Dufferin  Lake  in  Ontario  in  July  of  1887  :  "  The  products 
of  this  firm  last  year  reached  the  enormous  sum  of  $12,- 
000,000.  These  are  some  of  the  items  which  comprise 
this  aggregate  : 

100,000  tons  of  steel  rails $3,600,000 

150,000  tons  of  pig-iron 3,000,000 

50,000   tons   merchants'    steel  boiler-plate 

and  sheets 2,750,000 

40,000  tons  wire 2,400,000 


THE    FARMER'S   COTEMPOP ARIES.  /I 

"  With  an  increased  output  and  an  advance  in  the  prices 
their  business  this  year  will  probably  reach  the  high  fig- 
ure of  ^15,000,000,  a  sum  equal  to  the  whole  earnings  of 
the  Grand  Trunk  Railway,  a  corporation  of  40,000  share- 
holders, and  at  least  50  per  cent,  more  than  the  whole 
earnings  of  the  whole  Canada  Pacific  Railway,  to  which 
you  (in  Canada)  have  donated  $100,000,000.  All  this 
was  the  growth  of  a  little  more  than  twenty  years.  .  .  . 
Think  of  the  business  of  this  one  firm  of  American-Ca- 
nadians nearly  equalling  the  aggregate  earnings  of  your 
two  great  systems  of  railways,  whose  combined  capital 
reaches  away  up  beyond  ^300,000,000." 

Going  south,  to  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  where  the 
greatest  iron  and  coal  industries  of  the  Union  are  located, 
the  farmers  are  not  making  any  headway  toward  increas- 
ing their  stores  of  wealth.  At  the  same  time  the  aggre- 
gate wealth  of  this  State  is  increasing  with  wonderful 
rapidity.  In  i860  the  whole  wealth  of  Pennsylvania  was 
estimated  at  $1,416,510,818.  Not  a  paltry  amount  by 
any  means,  but  small  compared  with  the  wealth  of  1880 
— $5,393,000,000  ;  rising  from  a  per  capita  valuation  of 
$487  in  i860  to  $1,259  in  1880. 

Here  we  find  among  other  successful  enterprises  the 
famed  Edgar  Thompson  Works,  of  whose  proprietor — 
Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie, — Mr.  Wiman  at  Dufferin  Lake, 
made  this  remark  :  "  A  little  over  twenty  years  ago,  they 
(Andrew  Carnegie  and  brother)  went  into  the  iron  busi- 
ness. One  of  the  two  brothers  recently  died,  and  the 
other,  Andrew  Carnegie,  now  employs  more  than  7,000 
men,  and  his  business  will  this  year  very  nearly  equal  the 
combined  earnings  of  both  your  combined  Grand  Trunk 
and  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  systems." 

Certainly  "  times  "  cannot  bear  hard  on  one  who  can 


J 2  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

boast  of  a  yearly  net  income  of  $1,250,000,  and  who, 
besides  supporting  an  establishment  in  America,  has  his 
castle  in  Scotland  for  a  summer  retreat. 

The  Standard  Oil  monopoly,  which  started  not  many 
years  ago  with  a  capital  of  $1,500,000,  and  is  now  said 
to  be  declaring  dividends  on  $90,000,000,  has  made 
this  vast  fortune,  and  the  fine  dividends  which  it  has 
paid  to  its  lucky  stockholders,  out  of  the  control  of  an 
article  almost  wholly  consumed  by  the  rural  populations. 

This  concern  is  now  able  to  dictate  State  and  national 
legislation  and  the  management  of  most  important  rail- 
way systems.  It  is  absorbing  the  oil  lands  of  Ohio,  and 
will  soon  have  the  whole  oil  business  of  North  America 
under  its  own  management.  This  great  monopoly  has 
evidently  been  able  to  bear  up  against  troubles  of  all  kinds. 

As  to  Michigan,  of  which  official  reports  prove  the 
serious  nature  of  the  troubles  under  which  its  farmers 
labor,  the  per  capita  value  of  property  rose  from  $343  in 
i860,  to  $837  in  1880.  Of  the  iron  industries  of  this 
State  Mr.  Wiman  says  : 

"  Recall  the  isolation,  the  barrenness  of  Canadian  iron 
regions,  and  contrast  them  with  the  activity  of  the  upper 
peninsula  of  Michigan,  whose  total  money  value  of  out- 
put in  1883  was  over  $24,000,000  !  Listen  to  the  story 
of  one  or  two  mines  as  told  in  the  following  extract  from 
a  report  on  the  Gogebic  region,  Michigan,  a  State  just 
next  door  to  Canada  : 

"  '  The  Menominee  Mining  Company  was  organized  ten 
years  ago  on  the  modest  capital  of  $100,000,  which,  not- 
withstanding the  extent  of  its  operations,  which  cover 
the  working  of  six  mines,  has  never  been  increased. 
The  company  has  already  paid  to  its  stockholders 
$6,500,000.     So  great  is  the  appreciation  of  its  shares, 


TflF.    FARMER'S  COTEMPOKARIES.  y^ 

that  a  single  one  has  sold  as  high  as  $6,750  upon  a  par 
of  $100!  The  total  output  of  its  mines  for  the  seven 
years  up  to  1883  was  1,569,929  tons.  Take,  for  example, 
a  stockholder  in  the  Republic  Company  who  bought  his 
shares  when  they  were  at  their  lowest,  and  held  them. 
He  may  have  purchased  the  original  stock  at  $12,  on  a 
par  of  $25,  and  possibly  lower.  From  that  point  it  rose 
to  ^325-  Then  the  capital  was  increased  from  $500,000 
to  $2,400,000,  and  the  stock  rose  as  high  as  $67,  or  $335 
a  share  for  the  whole  stock.  This  profit  does  not  take 
into  account  the  enormous  dividends  that  were  being 
paid  in  the  meantime,  frequently  more  than  100  per 
cent.  The  stock  of  the  Cleveland  Company  has  sold  as 
low  as  $6  or  $7.  From  these  figures  it  advanced  to  about 
$250.  The  company  made  an  increase  of  capital  similar 
to  the  Republic's,  and  its  new  shares  sold  as  high  as  $40 
and  as  low  as  $14  ;  its  present  price  is  about  $20.  But 
aside  from  the  fluctuations  of  market  the  steady  holders 
of  Cleveland  liave  enjoyed  much  larger  returns  than  they 
could  get  out  of  any  other  security.  During  the  last  six 
years  this  company  has  paid  two  dividends  of  80  per 
cent,  and  one  of  120  per  cent.  The  Lake  Superior  Com- 
pany is  another  mine  that  has  made  its  stockholders  rich. 
The  capital  of  the  company,  originally  half  a  million, 
was  increased  to  $1,500,000.  The  quotation  of  the  new 
stock  has  ranged  from  %2>2>  to  $80.  The  old  sold  as 
high  as  $400,  we  believe.  The  Lake  Superior  is  one  of 
the  big  dividend  payers,  and  the  steady  holders  have 
been  unable  to  get  Aladdin's  lamp  out  of  their  minds  ! '  •" 
The  Calumet  Hecla  Copper  Company,  started  a  few 
years  ago  with  a  capital  of  $1,200,000,  has  paid  dividends 
amounting  to  $20,000,000,  and  still  holds  a  property 
valued  at  $29,000,000. 

4 


74  AMERICAN   FARMS. 

The  Iron  Age,  of  New  York,  a  well-informed  authority, 
in  its  issue  of  August  4,  1887,  gave  some  information  of 
the  doings  of  one  huge  enterprise.  It  said  :  "  An  estab- 
lishment which  can  show  gross  earnings  amounting  to 
over  $14,000,000  in  twelve  months  as  the  result  of  manu- 
facturing operations  exclusively,  is  certainly  entitled  to 
be  called  great.  This  is  the  showing  made  to  the  stock- 
holders of  the  North  Chicago  Rolling-Mill  Company  at 
their  annual  meeting,  which  was  held  in  Chicago  on  the 
25th  ult." 

We  are  aware  that  figures  are  given  to  show  that  the 
money  made  in  great  enterprises  does  not,  as  a  rule,  stay 
by  the  families  of  those  who  engage  in  them  ;  but  the 
fact  remains  that  every  year  a  larger  proportion  of  the 
national  income  finds  its  way  to  this  class  than  ever  be- 
fore ;  while  it  finds  a  larger  proportion  of  the  farmers 
facing  financial  ruin  than  ever  before. 

Manufactures  may  not  always  pay  large  dividends, 
especially  when  forced  into  existence  where  not  required, 
or  in  localities  not  suited  to  their  development,  or  when 
they  have  been  outdone  by  new  rivals  with  superior  ad- 
vantages. The  question  for  the  farmer's  consideration 
is  :  Are  not  these  losses,  of  whatever  nature  they  may  be, 
frequently  thrown  on  the  farmer  ;  and  are  not  these 
manufacturers,  whether  they  succeed  or  fail,  given  a 
chance  to  enjoy  large  incomes  and  the  luxuries  of  life 
for  at  least  a  time,  while  the  farmer  must  be  satisfied 
with  a  narrow  income  and  the  satisfaction  of  only  the 
most  ordinary  wants  ?  Situated  in  one  of  the  principal 
towns  of  New  England  is  a  large  manufactory,  producing 
an  article  used  almost  wholly  by  the  farmers,  which  pays 
only  a  trifling  interest  to  the  shareholders.  Yet  by 
having  a  controlling  interest,   one  family  has  been  en- 


THE  FARMER'^   COTEMPORARIES.  75 

abled  to  draw  in  salaries  from  the  concern  at  times  the 
fine  sum  of  $100,000  annually.  Such  cases  are  not  at  all 
infrequent  under  the  present  regime. 

Of  millionaire  concerns,  New  York  boasts  of  having 
its  hundreds,  and  Montreal  its  fifties.  The  Senate  of 
the  United  States  has  its  twenty  millionaires.  How 
many  of  these  are  farmers  ? 

Mr.  Thomas  G.  Shearman,  the  publicist  and  statistician, 
states  in  The  Forum,  for  November,  1889,  that  there 
are  seventy  persons  in  the  United  States  whose  average 
wealth  is  over  1137,500,000,  amounting  in  the  aggregate 
to  $2,700,000,000.  The  wealth  of  J.  J.  Astor  is  esti- 
mated at  $150,000,000  ;  Gould,  Stanford,  Rockefeller 
and  two  Vanderbilts  are  rated  at  $100,000,000  each  ;  two 
at  $70,000,000  each,  seven  at  $40,000,000  each.  Then 
there  are  four  at  $35,000,000,  thirteen  at  $30,000,000, 
ten  at  $25,000,000,  four  at  $22,500,000,  fifteen  at 
$20,000,000,  while  there  are  fifty  others  who  are  worth 
$10,000,000,  each.  These  are  probably  overestimated, 
but  enough  is  known  to  establish  the  fact  that  the  wealth 
of  the  United  States  in  the  hands  of  some  250,000  of  its 
people  is  enormous,  whereas  the  average  farmer's  wealth 
is  less  than  it  was  twenty  years  ago. 

However,  in  order  to  reduce  this  comparison  to  the 
most  severe  test,  we  must  show  the  position  of  the 
proprietor  farmer  as  compared  with  the  ordinary  wage 
earner.  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson's  '  elaborate  statistics  go 
to  show  that  the  average  wages  of  the  laboring  class  in 
the  United  States  is  about  $400  a  year,  and  of  the  total 
of  the  agricultural  class  $419.  He  states  that  "the 
average  farmer  can  be  assumed  to  earn  but  a  moderate 
sum  above  that  of  the  farm  laborer." 

'  "  Distribution  of  Products." 


^6  AMERICAN  TARMS. 

I  have  averaged  the  farmer's  income  at  $473  ;  and  I 
place  the  wage  earner's  income  at  not  less  than  $350, 
$50  less  than  Mr.  Atkinson,  in  order  to  be  within  safe 
bounds.  Out  of  the  $473,  the  farmer  must  meet  cost  of 
production,  wear  of  machinery,  loss  of  stock,  pay  in- 
surance, and  pay  taxes  ;  all  of  which  would  amount  to 
not  less  than  an  average  of  $173.  This  would  leave  the 
farmer  $300  for  living,  savings,  and  interest  on  his 
investment. 

The  average  farmer's  property  in  the  United  States, 
according  to  census  statistics,  is  $3,019  value.  I  contend 
that  at  least  $2,000  of  this  should  be  subject  to  a  charge 
of  interest  at  the  rate  of  6  per  cent,  in  our  calculation. 
This  will  leave  the  farmer  $180  for  support  of  family  and 
savings,  or  $170  less  than  the  wage  earner.' 

"  The  farm  does  not  pay  if  it  merely  affords  a  living 
and  prevents  the  accumulation  of  debt.  It  may  do  more 
than  this — it  may  even  decrease  debt  and  add  to  the 
value  of  stock  and  improvements — and  yet  not  pay.  It 
being  assumed  that  the  labor  and  superintendence  of  the 
owner  is  equal  in  value  to  the  support  of  the  family,  then 
the  net  accumulations  of  the  year  must  be  equal  to  the 
legal  interest  upon  the  whole  capital  invested,  or  the 
farm  does  not  pay.  This  is  a  simple  method  of  farm 
book-keeping,  and  will  always  answer  the  question  ;  yet 
too  many  farmers  will  shrink  from  applying  the  test." " 

'  It  is  well  to  note  that  official  reports,  now  coming  in,  go  to  show 
that  the  price  of  labor  is  gradually  increasing,  while  the  returns  to 
agriculture  are  diminishing.  While  the  wealth  of  the  agriculturists 
decreased  by  $890  per  farm,  the  per  capita  increase  of  the  property  of 
the  Union  was  $566,  though  the  increase  in  number  of  those  who  en- 
tered occupations  other  than  agricultural,  owning  nothing,  was  quite 
as  great  as  those  who  had  swelled  the  numbers  of  the  agriculturists. 

^  American  Agriculturist,  September,  1889. 


THE  FARMER'S  COTEMPORARIES.  'JJ 

The  Hon.  Geo.  B.  Loring  gives  some  statistics  recently 
in  tTie  North  Aitierican  Review '  to  prove  the  prosperity 
of  agriculture.  I  propose  analyzing  those  referring  to  this 
question  as  it  relates  to  Massachusetts,  which  he  assures 
his  readers  "  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  type  of  Ameri- 
can agriculture  which  increases  year  by  year,  and  which 
affords  constant  labor,  and  consequently  good  returns  to 
the  farmer."  Mr.  Loring  says  that  the  aggregate  value 
of  the  agricultural  products  of  the  State  is  $47,756,033  ; 
that  the  total  agricultural  property  of  the  State  is  valued 
at  $215,230,550  ;  that  his  estimate  gives  to  each  person 
employed  in  farming  about  $620  annually,  out  of  which 
must  come  the  expense  oS  producing  and  selling  the 
product — the  total  wages  paid  annually  being  $6,390,- 
252. 

If  we  assume  that  the  average  farm  proprietor  of 
Massachusetts  is  receiving  $700  (an  outside  figure),  and 
out  of  which  deduct  $200  for  insurance,  taxes,  repairs, 
loss  of  stock,  seeds,  and  fertilizers,  we  have  $500  left. 
Out  of  this  $500  we  have  to  take,  at  least,  $150  for  wages. 
This  would  leave  $350  for  the  farmer,  the  return  of  an 
ordinary  wage  earner,  with  not  a  cent  for  interest  on  his 
investment.  If  the  farmer  charge  this  interest,  say  $150, 
he  would  have  only  $200  for  his  family  to  live  upon. 

In  the  paragraph  wherein  Mr.  Loring  refers  to  the 
above  matter,  he  states  that  the  income  of  the  manufac- 
turing operatives  in  Massachusetts  averages  $364.  He 
has  this  without  a  cent  risked  in  the  business  which  em- 
ploys him.  Surely  if  the  laborers  of  America  have  cause 
to  make  loud  and  bitter  complaints  of  the  inequality 
under  which  they  labor,  the  farm  proprietors  have  much 
more. 

'  March,  1889. 


CHAPTER    11. 


COMPETITION. 


Taking  a  wide  survey  of  the  subject,  we  can  consis- 
tently say  that  a  severe  competition  from  even  the  most 
distant  producing  countries  is  springing  up  to  claim  the 
farmer's  serious  attention.  The  wheat  fields  of  the  great 
American  prairies  have  to  contend  for  the  markets  of 
the  United  Kingdom,  not  only  against  India  and  the 
continent  of  Europe,  but  the  Argentine  Republic  is  be- 
coming a  formidable  rival.  India  is  devoting  each  new 
year  more  than  formerly  to  the  production  of  this  great 
staple.  The  fourteen  thousand  miles  of  railway  now 
constructed  in  that  country  tap  some  of  the  finest  wheat 
lands  of  the  world,  and  with  plenty  of  cheap  labor  to 
work  them. 

Competition  all  around,  and  the  low  rates  of  trans- 
portation over  the  railways  of  America  as  well  as  in 
other  countries,  have  brought  down  the  price  of  wheat 
in  the  London  market,  during  the  last  ten  years,  lower 
than  ever  before.  During  the  past  five  years  the  average 
price  at  Mark  Lane  has  been  thirty-five  shillings  per 
quarter  ;  during  the  decade  1860-70  it  averaged  fifty-one 
shillings  ;  in  1868,  sixty-three  shillings. 

The  cattle  and  meat  exports  are  also  not  without 
rivals.  Australia  and  South  America  are  expanding 
this  trade  remarkably.     Meats  are  now  sent  to  the  mar- 

78 


COMPETITIOiY. 


79 


kets  of  Great  Britain  in  steamers  with  vast  refrigerators 
in  which  these  meats  are  safely  carried.  One  establish- 
ment on  the  Plata  River  is  equipped  with  the  necessary- 
facilities  for  preparing  and  shipping  five  hundred  car- 
cases yearly. 

Australia  takes  the  lead  in  exports  of  mutton,  and  is 
likely  still  to  do  so,  because  of  its  great  natural  advan- 
tages and  its  shipping  facilities. 

The  fiscal  policy  of  the  United  States  has  made  it 
easy  for  such  European  countries  as  France  and  Ger- 
many to  find  plausible  excuse  for  shutting  out  American 
food  products.  The  pork  industries,  in  an  especial 
manner,  have   suffered  from  this  retaliation. 

Even  for  the  products  of  the  dairy,  England  is  not 
by  any  means  dependent  upon  the  farmers  of  America. 
Danish  and  Irish  butter  are  now  preferred  in  that 
country. 

In  fact,  England  is  not  so  absolutely  dependent  upon 
outside  countries  as  many  suppose.  She  has  large  areas 
uncultivated,  which,  were  they  cultivated,  would  increase 
her  food  supply  very  much. 

It  is  possible  that  with  her  lands  all  carefully  culti- 
vated, the  present  yield  might  be  doubled,  an  amount 
which  would  more  than  feed  the  people.  In  1880, 
according  to  Sir  James  Caird,  a  most  reliable  authority, 
her  consumption  of  corn  and  vegetable  products  was 
of  the  value  of  ^386,637,500,  of  which  her  own  soil 
contributed  ^260,737,500. 

These  economic  facts,  apparent  to  the  observing 
citizen,  are  of  great  practical  importance  to  the  food 
exporter.  They  evidently  point  to  the  conclusion  that 
competition  is  likely  to  be  even  more  severe  in  the 
future  than   in  the   past,   and   should   be    met   by   the 


8o  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

American  agriculturists  if  they  would  have  their  pro- 
ductions find  customers  in  foreign  marts.  No  possible 
home  policy  can  shut  off  this  competition. 

Neither  is  the  outlook  at  home  any  more  cheering. 
The  small  or  least  favored  grain  producers,  who  have 
been  unable  to  change  their  labors  to  other  directions, 
are  being  borne  down  by  the  overwhelming  odds  pitted 
against  them.  The  majority  of  the  great  "bonanza 
farms,"  from  which  the  severe  competition  comes,  have, 
in  many  cases,  cost  the  owners  comparatively  but  a  trifle, 
while  little  outlay  is  required  for  fertilizers.  Further- 
more, the  most  effective  machinery  to  be  procured  is 
being  employed  to  turn  these  unequalled  natural  re- 
sources into  food  products. 

Of  this,  says  a  noted  American  economist '  :  '*  A 
huge  abundance  therefore  ensues  from  the  least  amount 
of  human  labor.  On  some  of  the  fattest  land  of  the 
West,  the  measure  of  the  product  of  one  man,  working 
the  best  machinery  with  a  pair  of  horses,  has  reached 
one  hundred  tons  of  corn  in  a  single  season.  The  aim  of 
some  of  the  great  '  bonanza  farms '  of  Dakota  has  been 
to  apply  machinery  so  effectually  that  the  cultivation  of 
one  full  section,  or  six  hundred  and  forty  acres,  shall 
represent  one  year's  work  of  only  one  man.  This  has 
not  yet  been  reached,  but  so  far  as  the  production  of 
the  grain  of  wheat  is  concerned,  one  man's  work  will 
now  give  one  thousand  persons  enough  for  a  barrel  of 
flour  a  year,  which  is  the  average  ration." 

On  the  great  farms  of  the  West  ploughing  is  per- 
formed by  immense  double-gang  ploughs — too  expensive 
and  ponderous  for  use  on  the  small  farms.  Each 
plough  is  drawn  by  four  horses,  the  ploughman  riding 

1  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson, 


COMPETITION.  8 1 

upon  it  as  it  moves  along,  cutting  two  furrows  of 
fourteen  inches  wide.  When  it  is  considered  that  not 
infrequently  four  of  these  four-horse  teams,  one  after 
the  other,  are  seen  in  the  same  field,  cutting  furrows 
miles  in  length,  an  idea  is  gained  of  what  is  being 
done  in  the  West  by  machinery  and  a  very  limited 
amount  of  human  labor.  One  man,  who  does  the  har- 
rowing, drives  four  horses  attached  to  a  gang  of  four 
harrows,  covering  a  width  of  twenty-four  feet.  The 
seed  is  sown  by  broadcast  seeders,  planting  seed  over  a 
width  of  sixteen  feet,  and  drawn  by  four  horses.  To 
gather  the  harvest  self-binding  reapers,  drawn  by  three 
horses,  are  also  managed  by  one  man. 

Of  the  great  reapers  one  farm  in  Dakota  operates 
sixty-five.  It  is  said  that  "  Dr.  Glen's  forty-five  thou- 
sand acres  of  wheat  in  California  in  1880  were  gathered 
by  machines,  each  of  which  cut,  threshed,  winnowed, 
and  bagged,  sixty  acres  of  wheat  in  a  day." 

The  threshing  and  cleaning  are  mostly  done  by  steam 
power  in  the  field,  and  the  grain  is  frequently  hauled  in 
bulk  to  the  railway  stations  to  be  deposited  in  elevators 
or  warehouses. 

Mr.  Dalrymple's  hundred  square  miles  of  wheat  are 
cultivated  and  gathered  with  machines  and  a  troop  of 
four  hundred  farm  servants.  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie,  in 
referring  to  this  in  his  "  Triumphant  Democracy,"  gives  his 
opinion  that  it  would  require  five  thousand  men  in  the 
ordinary  way  of  the  East  to  accomplish  the  same  result. 

As  conditions  exist  it  seems  practically  impossible  for 
small  farmers  to  compete  with  farming  conducted  on 
such  a  stupendous  scale  as  that  on  the  great  farms  of 
the  West. 

At  home,  the  broad  ranches  of  Texas,  Kansas,  and 
4* 


82  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

Other  States  of  the  West,  are  providing  the  meat  markets 
of  the  old  States  of  the  East,  even  to  the  Pine  Tree 
State  and  the  Maritime  Provinces. 

The  numerous  railways  traversing  the  continent  have 
brought  the  vast  prairies  practically  alongside  the  East- 
ern consumers.  In  1865,  it  cost  from  three  to  four 
cents  a  ton  per  mile,  to  convey  freight  to  the  Atlantic 
seaboard.     It  is  now  done  for  three  fourths  of  a  cent. 

"  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  consolidated  and  perfected 
the  railroad  service  in  such  a  way  that  a  year's  supply  of 
meat  and  bread  can  be  moved  one  thousand  miles,  from 
the  Western  prairies  to  the  Eastern  workshops,  at  the 
measure  of  the  cost  of  a  single  day's  wages  of  the 
mechanic  or  artisan  in  Massachusetts, — that  is  to  say,  if 
the  mechanic  or  artisan  of  the  East  will  give  up  one 
holiday  in  a  vear,  he  removes  one  thousand  miles  of 
distance  bet\veen  himself  and  the  main  source  of  his 
supply  of  necessary  food."  ' 

'  Edward  Atkinson,  "  Distribution  of  Products,"  p.  38. 

The  following  is  from  the  Halifax  Morfiing  Herald,  Saturday,  No- 
vember 23,  1889,  entitled  "  Impoverished  Farmers  "  : 

"  In  recent  issues  the  Herald  has  called  attention  to  a  great  body 
of  evidence  furnished  by  state  and  municipal  reports,  newspaper 
articles,  public  addresses,  etc.,  all  of  which  serve  to  show  that  the 
farmers  of  the  United  States,  both  in  New  England  and  in  the  States 
farther  west,  are,  relatively  speaking,  in  a  most  deplorable  condition. 
Large  numbers  of  deserted  farms  are  in  vain  offered  for  sale  in  New 
England,  while  others,  which  were  a  few  years  ago  in  excellent  con- 
dition and  free  of  debt,  are  now  placed  under  the  hammer  of  the 
auctioneer  to  pay  the  mortgages  that  have  been  placed  upon  them. 
In  the  West  the  farmers  are  endeavoring  as  best  they  can  to  bear  up 
under  their  almost  overwhelming  burden  of  indebtedness,  living 
largely  on  their  capital-outlay,  hoping  against  hope  for  better  times  in 
the  near  future.  The  Bcuikers'  Magazine  for  November,  in  '  A  Re- 
view of  Finance  and  Business,'  shows  very  clearly  that  the  impov- 


COMPETITION.  83 

HOME    MARKET. 

Compare  the  position  of  the  different  localities  in 
America,  as  regards  the  production  of  grain  and  live- 
stock fifty  years  ago,  with  the  present,  and  it  will  be 
found  that,  at  that  time,  the  farmers  had  the  advantage 
of  a  home  market,  while  to-day  no  locality  can  boast  of 
being  practically  a  home  market.  During  the  past  half- 
century  the  increase  of  the  town  and  city  populations  of 
Massachusetts  has  been  upwards  of  100  per  cent.,  and 
the  increase  of  the  aggregate  wealth  over  200  per  cent., 
while  during  the  same  period  the  increase  in  the  pro- 
duction of  live-stock  has  been  but  a  trifle,  and  an  actual 
decline  of  over  2t^  per  cent,  has  come  about  in  the 
production  of  grain. 

erished  condition  of  United  States  farmers  is  due  to  a  limited  demand 
for  their  products,  and  in  a  consequent  decline  of  prices  which  does 
not  return  him  sufficient  to  pay  for  his  seed  and  labor.     We  quote  : 

"  '  Instead  of  keeping  up  her  early  purchases  of  our  new  crop, 
which  were  quite  free  in  August,  to  bridge  over  the  gap  between  her 
{i.  e.,  England)  old  and  new  crops,  she  has  taken  less  and  less  as  we 
have  gone  into  the  new-crop  year.  Not  only  this,  but  it  has  been  in 
the  face  of  steadily  declining  prices  under  an  unusually  heavy  move- 
ment of  the  crop,  which  has  been  necessitated  by  the  impoverished 
condition  of  American  farmers.  This  has  been  true,  not  only  of 
wheat,  but  of  every  thing  the  farmer  has  raised,  until  prices  have 
reached  a  point  in  remote  sections  which  hardly  pay  for  hauling  his 
crops  to  market  after  being  harvested.  This  is  especially  true  of 
corn,  oats,  and  potatoes  in  the  far  West,  where  much  of  the  crops 
still  lie  on  the  ground  unhoused,  as  farmers  are  too  poor  to  buy  the 
lumber  to  crib  their  grain.  Potatoes,  which  rotted  so  badly  in  the 
East,  owing  to  the  wet  autumn,  seemed  to  have  escaped  in  the  West, 
where  they  have  been  selling  by  the  car-load  at  20  cents  a  bushel 
delivered  in  Chicago.  Oats  are  selling  there  at  17  to  18  cents  ;  corn, 
30  to  31  cents.  How  much  is  left  the  unfortunate  farmer,  after  pay- 
ing even  the  reduced  rates  of  transportation  the  railways  were  com- 


84  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

THE     FRUIT     PROBLEM. 

As  the  great  grain  fields  of  the  West  have  poured 
their  products  into  every  market  at  home,  the  small 
grain  areas  of  the  past  have  been  converted  into 
orchards  and  vegetable  plots  ;  and  now  there  is  not 
only  excessive  production  in  cereals,  but  also  in  all 
other  field  productions.  Only  a  few  months  ago  (June, 
1888),  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand  crates  of  fruit  and 
vegetables,  "  in  good  condition,"  were  destroyed  in  New 
York  Harbor  to  relieve  an  overstocked  market.  Large 
portions  of  the  South,  such  as  the  country  around  Norfolk, 
Virginia,  have  recently  become  devoted  to  fruit  and  vege- 
table culture  for  Northern  consumption.  This  production 
will,  do  doubt,  be  vastly  increased  in  the  near  future,  if 
the  new  cotton-picking  machines,  now  under  contem- 
plation, drive  the  negroes  from  the  industry  of  cotton- 
picking,  which  has  given  so  many  of  them  employment 
in  the  past. 

pelled  to  make  in  order  to  get  the  farmers  to  move  their  crops  at  all, 
can  easily  be  figured.  He  is  not  getting  enough  to  pay  for  his  seed 
and  his  labor,  and  the  result  is  seen  in  the  wholesale  default  in  inter- 
est, not  only  on  farm  mortgages,  but  on  farm  implements  and  live- 
stock, which  are  being  foreclosed,  and  the  producers  of  our  abundant 
harvests  are  left  homeless  and  penniless  in  an  unusually  large  number 
of  cases  to  face  the  inclemency  of  the  winter.  As  a  consequence  there 
is  more  or  less  uprising  of  the  farming  communities  of  the  far  West 
against  the  demands  of  the  Eastern  loan  companies,  which  have  not 
only  kept  up  the  old  rates  of  interest,  but  in  some  cases  have  in- 
creased them.  Cases  have  come  to  public  notice  where  5  per  cent, 
per  month  is  charged  upon  cattle  mortgages.  Between  the  exporters, 
who  refuse  to  take  their  crops,  except  of  corn,  even  at  these  ruinous 
prices,  and  the  Eastern  and  local  money-lenders,  the  farmers  of  the 
country  are  being  ground  between  the  upper  and  neither  millstone, 
instead  of  their  harvests,  which  are  too  abundant  to  house  and  too 
cheap  to  market,' " 


COMPE  TI TION.  8  5 

It  certainly  seems  that  in  scarcely  any  line  has  there 
been  a  more  rapid  increase  of  competition  than  in  that  of 
fruit-raising.  In  1S59  the  value  of  the  production  of  the 
orchards  of  the  United  States  was  $19,991,885  ;  in  1879  it 
rose  to  $50,876,154,  or  an  increase  of  154  per  cent.  Mr. 
Loring  now  estimates,  that  by  adding  all  the  fruits  sold 
in  small  cities  and  villages,  and  those  consumed  on  the 
farms  enumerated,  "  the  annual  value  of  the  fruits  of  the 
United  States  would  not  fall  much  below  $200,000,000." 

It  must  also  be  remembered  that  at  no  former  period 
in  the  history  of  America  has  there  been  a  more  rapid 
increase  in  the  area  of  new  orchards  than  during  the  last 
ten  years. 

In  Canada,  in  recent  years,  pomology  has  become  the 
most  popular  science  of  husbandry.  Investments  in  fruit 
culture  are  made  by  both  the  practical  farmer,  the  theo- 
rist, and  the  speculator.  And  now,  as  with  their  contem- 
poraries, the  orchardists  of  Canada  have  to  deal  with  the 
question  of  competition  in  a  way  not  dreamed  of  twenty 
years  ago,  except,  perhaps,  by  the  very  observing  publi- 
cist or  economist.  In  1871  the  crop  of  apples  in  Ontario 
was  estimated  at  2,000,000  of  bushels  ;  seventeen  years 
later,  1888,  at  20,000,000  of  bushels,  an  increase  of  over 
900  per  cent.,  though  the  population  of  the  Dominion  had 
not  increased  30  per  cent. 

The  apple  production  of  the  Annapolis  valley  in  the 
year  1871  was  estimated  at  45,000  barrels  ;  in  1888,  at 
300,000  barrels, — an  increase  of  566  per  cent.  In  187 1, 
80  per  cent,  of  the  standard  varieties  were  marketed  at 
home  ;  at  present  50  per  cent,  of  the  yield  would  glut  the 
home  market  even  in  a  "  short-crop  "  season.  It  is  gener- 
ally estimated  that  when  the  young  orchards  already 
planted  get  into  bearing — or  ten  years  hence — the  pro- 
duction of  the  valley  will  be  over  a  million  of  barrels,  or 


86  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

sufficient  to  supply  a  population  greater  than  the  whole 
of  the  Maritime  Provinces  would  contain,  seventy-five 
years  hence,  at  the  present  rate  of  increase. 

It  seems  evident  that,  to  carry  on  this  industry  as  the 
orchardists  of  America  have  set  out,  foreign  markets,  and 
especially  the  markets  of  Great  Britain,  must  be  secured 
in  the  face  of  competition  growing  sharper  year  by  year. 

Australia  all  at  once  threatens  to  become  a  formidable 
competitor  for  the  spring  markets  of  London.  It  is  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  this  new  rival  is  at  a  disadvantage 
as  regards  freights  ;  for  the  odds  are  the  other  way.  The 
commerce  carried  on  between  Australia  and  Great  Britain 
is  seven  times  as  much  per  capita  to  Australia  as  that 
between  America  and  Great  Britain  is  to  America. 

Apple  producers  and  shippers  cannot  dictate  the 
prices,  neither  at  home  nor  abroad  ;  while  the  foreign 
market  decides  the  prices  which  may  be  obtained  in  the 
home  market.  In  former  times,  a  local  short  crop  meant 
high  prices  in  the  home  market.  It  was  purely  a  local 
question.  Now,  in  many  cases  in  the  northeastern  part 
of  America,  the  production  in  most  years  being  greater 
than  consumption,  the  prices  must  be  fixed  in  the  open 
markets  of  the  world. 

This  (1889)  is  called  an  unusually  "  short  apple-crop 
year  "  everywhere,  and  yet  prices  are  not  sufficiently  high 
in  our  domestic  markets  to  make  the  returns  of  the  aver- 
age tree  any  thing  like  what  it  would  have  been  twenty 
years  ago  under  similar  circumstances  as  to  its  yield. 

COMPETITION    BETWEEN    THE    UPPER    AND    LOWER 
PROVINCES. 

Ontario  and  the  Western  provinces,  with  their  immense 
tracts  of  fertile  prairie  lands,  and  their  railway  system 
opening  these  lands  up  to  cultivators  even  faster  than 


COMPETITION.  87 

they  can  be  induced  to  occupy  them,  are  unequalled  for 
competitive  farming.  The  production  of  cereals  is  in- 
creasing by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  the  lands  of  the  older 
provinces  are  rapidly  giving  up  the  contest  in  this  branch 
of  husbandry. 

Manitoba  now  bids  fair  to  become  the  banner  potato- 
producing  province.  The  Canada  Pacific  Railway's 
reports  state  that  the  yield,  per  acre,  runs  up  from  300  to 
800  bushels.  The  Maritime  Provinces,  which  have 
hitherto  borne  the  palm  in  the  production  of  this  tuber, 
fall  far  behind  in  their  yield  per  acre,  200  bushels  now 
being  considered  a  good  average  crop.  The  surplus  yield 
of  potatoes  in  Manitoba,  in  1888,  was  estimated  at  two 
millions  of  bushels. 

In  1864,  twenty-five  years  ago,  the  Upper  Provinces  sent 
to  Nova  Scotia  beef,  pork,  hams,  butter,  lard,  and  cheese  to 
the  trifling  amount  of  $8,269.  This  was  at  a  time  when 
trade  was  perfectly  free  of  tariff  restrictions.  Since  the 
operation  of  the  railways  between  these  provinces,  the 
shipments  of  farm  produce  from  the  Upper  Provinces  to 
Nova  Scotia  have  developed  to  about  $100,000  yearly.' 
According  to  Mr.  A.  C.  Fairweather,  an  authority  on 
this  subject,  $105,000  in  cheese,  cured  meats,  and  butter 
alone,  were  sent  from  the  Upper  to  the  Maritime 
Provinces  in  1884. 

THE    BIG    FISH    CONSUME    THE    LITTLE. 

The  principle  of  the  big  fish  consuming  the  little  is 
well  exemplified  in  many  of  the  anomalies  connected 
with  the  subject  of  the  present  competition  in  husbandry. 
Some  great  central  interests  get  all  the  advantages  in  re- 
gard to  freights,  and  others  get  other  favors.  The  fruit 
region  of  Nova  Scotia  is  eight  hundred  miles  nearer  to 

'  Including  grain  and  flour,  aliout  !|;2, 500,000. 


88  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

London  than  the  fruit  districts  of  Ontario  ;  but  it  costs 
more  to  put  apples  into  the  London  market  from  the 
former  than  from  the  latter.  These  centralizing  influ- 
ences gain  more  strength  every  day. 

But  perhaps  the  most  trying  feature  of  our  develop- 
ment is  the  competition  growing  up  between  individual 
operators,  the  big  and  the  little.  How  is  the  small  or- 
chardist  to  live,  who,  for  instance,  is  depending  chiefly 
upon  his  crop  of  two  hundred  barrels  of  apples,  in  com- 
peting with  the  capitalist  merchant,  lawyer,  or  banker, 
as  great  orchardists,  who  are  satisfied  with  a  small  in- 
terest on  their  investments. 

There  are  orchards  in  America  which  now  turn  out 
from  twenty-five  to  forty  thousand  bushels  of  apples. 
Three  hundred  acres  is  the  average  of  a  fair-sized  or- 
chard in  some  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  there  are 
orchards  in  Canada  coming  into  bearing,  which  are  ex- 
pected soon  to  turn  out  their  five  to  ten  thousand 
barrels  annually. 

The  small  farmers,  in  competing  with  their  bonanza 
competitors,  must  support  families  and  provide  them 
with  the  necessaries  of  life  through  the  whole  year.  The 
large  capitalist  operator  needs  to  the  amount  produced, 
but  a  fraction  of  hired  help,  and  needs  it  but  a  short 
period  in  each  year. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  odds  are  entirely  in  favor  of 
the  large  operator  every  time  an  article  is  purchased 
for  use  upon  the  farm.  Special  rates  are  always  for 
the  capitalist's  benefit  in  the  commercial  world.  Thus, 
we  are  forced  to  the  conviction,  that  unlimited  com- 
petition, bearing  on  the  typical  American  farmer,  is  a 
condition  which  should  be  regarded  as  one  of  utmost 
significance. 


COMPE  TI TION.  89 

Every  advantage  gained  in  cost  of  production  by  the 
farmer,  in  the  way  of  improved  implements  of  husband- 
ry, in  transportation,  or  through  abundant  harvests,  etc., 
becomes,  not  mediately,  but  immediately,  fused  through 
society,  for  its  benefit.  On  the  other  hand,  though  the 
cost  of  fabrication  is  being  continually  lessened,  its 
prices  greatly  lowered  to  consumers,  and  tne  compara- 
tive capacity  for  its  expansion  vastly  increased,  these 
benefits  do  not  become  entirely  or  immediately  fused 
through  society,  but  sufficient  margin  remains  in  the 
hands  of  the  producers  of  such  fabrications  to  unduly 
enrich  them.  How  this  advantage  is  secured  to  the  lat- 
ter, will  be  shown  in  chapters  which  follow. 


CHAPTER  III. 

BETWEEN  THE  UPPER  AND  NETHER  MILLSTONES. 

Whatever  be  the  cause  of  the  troubles  to  agriculture, 
the  query,  as  to  why  contemporaneous  industries  are  not 
also  in  the  same  case,  must  now  be  met. 

It  is  not  the  result  of  an  unavoidable  evolution  in  the 
conditions  of  society  which  must  close  in  upon  the  agri- 
culturists sooner  or  later  everywhere,  and  in  all  ages, 
to  overthrow  them. 

No,  the  condition  is  not  natural,  it  is  most  decidedly 
abnormal.  The  world  is  governed  in  its  customs,  in  its 
sentiments,  in  its  politics,  and  in  its  laws,  by  a  false 
political  economy.  We  magnify  the  importance  of 
nearly  every  thing  but  agriculture,  and  it  is  made  to 
bear  all  kinds  of  loads  that  other  industries  may  develop 
and  be  made  prosperous,  until  agriculture  is  crushed 
beneath  the  weight ;  and  government  by  unjust  laws  is 
the  chief  medium  through  which  this  evil  is  brought 
about. 

The  weight  of  a  ponderous  governmental  machinery 
as  an  outcome  of  endless  law-making,  and  the  granting 
of  privileges  to  all  others  at  the  expense  of  agriculture, 
have  put  the  farmers  of  America  between  the  upper  and 
nether  millstones.  On  the  upper  stone  is  the  crushing 
weight  of  a  vicious  system  of  taxation — the  usurer,  the 
monopolist,  and  combines  of  all  kinds  pressing  upon  it, 

90 


THE  UPPER   AND   NETHER   MILLSTONES.       9 1 

while  the  nether  stone  stands  firm.  The  first  is  governed 
by  artificial  laws  ;  the  other  by  natural  laws,  though  natural 
laws  sadly  imposed  upon  ;  one  by  impositions,  injustices, 
and  duplicity,  the  other  by  the  stern  logic  of  facts. 

The  price  of  the  farmer's  productions  is,  as  we  have 
seen  in  a  former  chapter,  governed  by  a  world-wide 
competition,  being  neither  protected  by  national  boun- 
daries nor  by  special  combinations.  This  is  the  natural, 
the  normal  condition.  On  the  other  hand,  the  prices 
which  the  farmer  is  obliged  to  pay  for  the  productions 
and  the  services  of  others  are  inflated,  through  the  re- 
sult of  artificial  barriers,  against  all  competition  from 
production  outside  the  limits  of  the  nation,  and  by  com- 
binations within.  This  is  the  unnatural,  the  abnormal 
condition. 

With  such  as  the  manufacturer,  the  conditions  are 
exactly  reversed.  As  producers,  the  results  of  their 
labors  are  inflated  in  exchange  value  by  protection ; 
whereas,  as  consumers  of  farm  produce,  they  have  but 
to  pay  competition  prices.  The  system  of  extreme  in- 
direct taxation,  as  operated  in  America,  gives  the  great 
manufacturing  industries  the  power  to  relieve  themselves, 
however  much  they  may  be  pressed  upon.  This  is  done 
by  forcing  unnatural  terms  upon  such  as  the  farmer. 

Whatever  the  extortion  which  one  manufacturer  may 
practise  upon  another  in  the  price  he  demands  for  his 
productions,  that  other  finds  relief  through  an  equivalent 
exaction  in  return  ;  but  the  farmer  is  victimized  by  both, 
and  he  does  not,  or  cannot,  retaliate. 

The  trades  combine  one  against  another,  and  both 
against  the  farmer  ;  and  he  does  not,  or  cannot,  retaliate. 

Government,  in  its  combination  with  capital,  uses  its 
power  against  such  as  the  farmer ;  and  nothing  is  done, 
or  can  be  done,  by  retaliation. 


92  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

It  is  these  unnatural  conditions  which  are  a  chief 
cause  of  the  relative  decline  of  the  farmer's  share  in  the 
national  income  ;  which  are  causing  the  rapid  increase  of 
our  tenanted  and  mortgaged  farms  ;  which  make  the 
manufacturers  and  other  combiners  wealthy,  and  the 
farmers  comparatively  poor  ;  which  cause  the  fierceness 
of  competition  to  appear  so  much  more  severe  in  agri- 
culture than  in  other  occupations  ;  which  do  much  to 
dishearten  our  rural  denizens  and  make  them  appear 
unequal  to  the  struggle  of  life  ;  which  deprive  our  best 
citizens  of  the  pleasurable  enjoyment  and  profiting  con- 
sumption of  their  just  and  natural  share  in  the  results  of 
the  progress  of  the  age. 

American  shipping  engaged  in  foreign  trade  is  gov- 
erned by  natural  laws,  the  normal  condition,  on  the  one 
hand,  and,  like  agriculture,  is  crushed  by  vicious  arti- 
ficial laws  on  the  other,  and  is  being  exterminated. 
When  these  obstacles  were  taken  from  this  industry  by 
England's  free-trade  policy,  English  shipping  received 
new  life. 

From  doing  but  26  per  cent,  of  the  world's  ocean 
carrying-trade  at  the  time  of  the  removal  of  duties,  she 
now  does  over  50  per  cent.  Whereas,  in  the  United  States, 
burdens  have  been  laid  upon  shipping  until  United 
States  ships  have  been  pretty  nearly  driven  from  the 
seas.  Thirty-five  years  ago  the  United  States  had  five 
million  tons  of  ships  sailing  the  oceans  ;  they  now  have 
less  than  one  million'. 

'  It  is  frequently  contended  that  it  is  England's  superior  advan- 
tages for  building  iron  steamships  that  gives  her  the  chance  to  control 
the  world's  carrying-trade.  We  ask  :  Did  she  build  all  the  ships 
she  owned  during  the  first  twenty-five  years  after  the  repeal  of  ob- 
structions to  ship-building  and  ship-owning  ?  Why  cannot  America 
buy,  sail,  and  repair  English  ships,  as  England  has  done  in  the  past 
with  American,  and  prospered  Ijy  so  doing? 


THE  UPPER  AND  NETHER   MILLSTONES.       93 

While  natural  conditions  show  the  immense  importance 
of  these  great  mediums  of  wealth  and  general  well-being, 
artificial  conditions  throttle  them. 

Others  are  empowered  to  dictate  prices  to  the  farmer, 
but  who  ever  thinks  of  him  taking  the  advantages  which 
others  may  take, — for  instance,  pile  up  his  grain  from 
season  to  season,  until  he  can  sell  at  his  own  price  ? 
Does  he  store  away,  in  times  of  abundance,  his  butter, 
his  cheese,  etc.,  knowing  that  government  will  help  him 
out,  at  whatever  price  he  and  his  neighbors  decide  to 
ask  ?  Can  the  farmers — as  an  able  writer  suggests — 
meet  at  hotels,  and  over  their  wine  and  cigars  agree  as 
to  what  the  price  of  their  productions  shall  be,  and  the 
public  be  obliged  to  submit  to  it  ? 

The  manufacturer  may  run  one  engine  or  more,  or 
may  shut  down  as  many  days  in  the  week  as  he  likes. 
Legislation  is  made  to  insure  him  against  loss,  and  the 
consumers  of  his  productions  are  obliged  to  furnish  the 
means. 

We  are  governed  by  a  political  economy  which  takes 
from  the  one  class  upon  which  our  greatest  prosperity 
depends,  that  another  may  be  empowered  to  crush  it  ; 
national  policies,  which  are  based  on  laws,  the  actions  of 
which  are  to  victimize  the  worthy,  for  the  promotion  of 
that  which  in  its  effects  is  unworthy  ;  which  erects  a 
tower,  to  finally  overthrow  the  whole  structure. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

PROTECTION   A    DEADLY    ENEMY   TO   THE    FARMERS 
OF  AMERICA. 

In  fair  New  England,  among  the  great  manufacturers, 
pampered  and  protected  for  generations  ;  on  the  broad 
prairies  of  the  West  ;  down  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
unequalled  for  its  fertility  ;  in  favored  Ontario,  and  in 
the  provinces  by  the  sea,  the  farmers  have  a  common 
cause  in  resisting  the  great  foes  which  threaten  their 
annihilation.  To  this  end,  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
that  their  foes  be  well  known,  and  that  their  modes  of 
operation  be  clearly  understood. 

It  is  perfectly  familiar  to  the  tariff  student,  that  almost 
every  thing  the  farmers  require  as  consumers  is  taxed 
in  America  to  near  the  utmost  limit.  But  many  protec- 
tionists maintain  that  the  prices  of  goods  are  not  higher 
on  account  of  indirect  taxes  levied  on  them.  This  latter 
claim  is,  of  course,  denied  by  the  state  socialist  laborer, 
who  contends  that  the  Manchester  free-trade  theories 
threaten  to  bring  about  a  competition  that  would  reduce 
the  price  of  goods  and  the  price  of  labor  to  a  shadow. 

The  socialists  are  right,  as  a  rule,  in  their  contention 
that  free  competition — that  is  to  say,  competition  where 
monopoly  controls  no  part  of  production — causes  a  con- 
stant lowering  of  the  cost  and  price  in  exchange  of 
products,  but  not  that  through  this  laborers  would  be 
injured. 

94 


PROTECTION  A    DEADLY  ENEMY.  95 

Free  competition  permits  the  most  abtindant  and  per- 
fect production  of  goods  necessary  for  man's  wants, 
with  the  least  possible  friction.  The  supplying  of  these 
wants  in  the  highest  possible  degree — that  is  to  say,  to 
gain  the  most  liberal  consumption — is  the  end  or  aim  of 
all  production.  Hence,  freedom  in  competition  implies 
increased  consumption.  Where  this  freedom  is  universal, 
and  the  exchange  of  services — that  is  to  say,  of  the 
results  of  labor — is  not  obstructed,  all  should  gain  a 
benefit. 

Contrariwise,  where  services  or  goods  made  dearer  by 
friction  or  needless  labor  or  unnatural  conditions,  on 
the  one  hand,  are  exchanged  for  services  or  goods  made 
cheaper  by  a  relief  from  friction,  on  the  other,  their 
relative  conditions  are  then  improper  and  burdensome 
to  that  party  who  has  been  handicapped.  And  now  we 
return  to  an  important  point  in  the  subject,  and  reaffirm 
that  the  protective  laws  of  America  produce  a  friction 
which  causes  a  relative  increase  in  the  exchange  value 
of  protected  commodities. 

Many  illustrations  may  be  furnished  to  show  that  a 
friction,  and  a  serious  one,  is  placed  on  production  by 
our  meddlesome  laws,  but  a  few  of  these  will  suffice. 

Wood  screws  are  protected  in  the  United  States  by  a 
duty  of  2acr  per  cent,  on  the  foreign  article.  The  wood- 
screw  combination  is  said  to  have  paid  the  English 
makers  of  screws  ;!^ 25,000  yearly,  to  keep  their  goods 
out  of  the  American  market.  We  ask  :  has  the  American 
Screw  Combination  paid  this  ^25,000  out  of  the  pockets 
of  its  members  for  the  mere  fun  of  it  ?  Has  it  not  been 
taken  from  the  consumers  of  wood  screws  in  the  prices 
charged  them  ? 

The  Mills  tariff  bill,  which  was  lately  brought  before 


96  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

the  American  preople^by  the  then  dominant  party,  pro- 
posed to  reduce  the  *•©  per  cent,  protection  to  35  per 
cent.  The  manufacturers,  of  whom  a  large  proportion 
were  supporters  of  the  party  proposing  the  reduction, 
made  such  an  outcry  that  the  movement  was  abandoned. 
They  declared,  that  with  a  protection  of  only  35  per 
cent,  the  business  would  be  ruined  !  What  was  this  but 
an  admission  from  the  manufacturers,  either  that  the 
manufacturers  are  taking  more  than  35  per  cent,  of  its 
protection  from  consumers,  or  that  screws  may  be  pro- 
cured from  other  countries  at  35  per  cent,  less  than  in 
the  United  States  ? 

The  window-glass  industries  of  the  United  States  have 
a  protection  of  70  per  cent.  Even  with  this,  the  manu- 
facturers of  these  goods  are  not  satisfied,  and  some  of 
them  have  proposed  moving  to  Belgium  for  the  purpose 
of  manufacturing  and  shipping  to  this  country  in  the 
face  of  a  70  per  cent.  duty.  Does  this  not  indicate  a 
friction  somewhere,  and  a  serious  impediment  to  the 
production  or  procuring  of  these  goods  ? 

The  tack-makers  of  Canada  have  a  protection  equiva- 
lent to  60  per  cent,  but  these  goods  are  coming  in  from 
the  United  States  at  regular  prices  plus  this  60  per 
cent.;  but  the  Canadian  tack-makers,  rather  than  lower 
their  prices  to  the  price  of  the  foreign  article  plus  the 
duty,  desire  more  protection.  This  is  an  industry  which 
was  established  and  prosperous  before  the  high-tariff  era 
in  Canada,  and  it  cannot  be  claimed  that  such  favors  are 
necessary  merely  "  to  put  them  on  their  feet." 

But  here  we  have  a  very  telling  confession  from  a 
manufacturer  himself,  in  a  circular  addressed  to  the 
capitalists  of  the  United  States,  a  copy  of  which  will  be 
found  by  referring  to  the  Iron  Age  of  New  York,    of 


PROTECTION  A    DEADLY  ENEMY.  97 

August  9,  1888.  The  paper  first  gives  its  views  of  the 
condition  of  the  nail  market  in  New  York. 

*'  After  the  dulness  of  the  past  month,  there  is  a 
somewhat  better  movement  in  cut  nails,  and  it  is 
observed  that  the  proportion  of  steel  nails  called  for  is 
growing.  Inquiries  are  running  toward  heavier  lots,  but 
prices  remain  unsatisfactory,  concessions  from  $1.90  on 
dock  for  car-load  lots  being  made  with  some  frequency." 

And  then  the  following  : 

"  E.  G.  Scovil,  of  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  has  issued 
a  circular,  from  which  we  quote  as  under  :  '  Your  atten- 
tion is  called  to  the  large  amount  of  money  which  can  be 
made  by  manufacturing  cut  nails  and  bar  iron  under 
the  present  Canadian  tariff.  As  a  paying  investment 
there  is  nothing  to  equal  it  in  the  history  of  the  Ameri- 
can iron  trade.  Cut  nails  are  worth,  wholesale,  in  Ca- 
nadian market,  $2.60  per  keg  of  100  pounds  for  10^.,  and 
upwards,  other  sizes  in  proportion,  or  55  cents  a  keg 
more  than  in  the  Boston  market,  while  scrap  iron  can  be 
landed  here  at  $4.82  per  ton  less  than  in  the  United 
States,  this  amount  being  the  difference  saved  between 
United  States  duty  on  scrap  iron  of  $6.82  per  ton  and 

Canadian  duty  of  $2.00  per  ton,  viz.  : 

Per  ton. 

55  cents  a  keg  more  than  in  Boston  market,  wholesale $11  00 

Saved  on  scrap  iron 4  82 

Total $15  82 

the  amount  to  credit  of  manufacturing  here  over  and 
above  Boston  wholesale  prices,  which  leaves  the  manu- 
facturer a  good  profit.  The  demand  for  bar  iron  is  large 
and  increasing,  and  the  profit  of  manufacturing  is  much 
larger  than  in  the  United  States.  Suitable  coals  from 
Nova  Scotia  can  be  laid  down  at  proposed  works  for 
5 


98  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

$2.65  per  ton.  Within  six  months  we  will  have  the 
Short  Line  Railway  open,  placing  us  within  sixteen  hours 
of  Montreal,  which  will  also  open  that  market  to  this 
company,  as  finished  goods  can  be  taken  to  Montreal 
and  other  western  points  at  a  much  less  proportionate 
rate  of  freight  than  the  manufacturers  there  pay  upon 
our  coal,  which  they  must  have.  I  intend  forming  a 
company  with  capital  of  $200,000  in  2,000  shares  of  $100 
each,  organized  under  the  laws  of  New  Brunswick.  This 
company  will  pay  a  yearly  dividend  of  20  per  cent,  on 
its  paid-up  capital  at  present  prices.'  " 

The  foregoing  circular  was  from  an  old  respectable 
manufacturer,  who  was  quite  competent  to  give  correct 
information.  The  price  of  cut  nails  has  been  upwards 
of  sixty  cents  per  keg  lower  in  price  in  New  York  than 
in  the  Provinces  for  the  last  two  years,  and  continues  so 
at  the  present  day.  The  New  York  Iron  Age  of  August 
29,  1889,  says  :  "We  quote  cut  nails  $1.85  to  $1.90  for 
car-load  lots  on  dock  for  standard  brands  and  good  as- 
sortments." At  the  same  date  not  a  keg  of  cut  nails  is 
to  be  procured  in  Canada  for  $2.60 

The  Maritime  Provinces  consume  about  100,000  kegs 
of  cut  nails  yearly,  of  which  the  farmers  should  take  at 
least  one  half.  If  they  consumed  100,000  kegs  during 
the  last  two  years,  they  have  paid  out  for  this  one  article 
not  less  than  $70,000  more  than  had  they  the  privilege 
of  buying  where  they  pleased. 

To  manufacture  these  nails  it  requires  the  service  of 
about  sixty  nail-makers  for  the  period  of  two  years. 
Their  families  have  consumed  in  the  time  not  more  than 
$15,000  worth  of  the  products  of  the  Maritime  farmers, 
on  which  the  farmers'  profit  would  not  be  more  than 
$3,000. 


PROTECTION  A   DEADLY  ENEMY.  99 

Domestic  nails  controlled  the  Canadian  market  before 
the  Canadian  protective  era,  and  the  farmers  under 
comparatively  natural  conditions  had  nail-makers  for  cus- 
tomers of  their  productions.  Consequently,  the  farm- 
ers of  the  Maritime  Provinces  are  now  paying — provided 
they  are  consuming  the  quantity  of  nails  they  should — 
$35,000  worth  yearly  above  free-trade  prices,  to  insure 
the  production  of  an  article  which  does  not  in  any 
possible  way  return  them  $1,500  yearly  net  profit,  and 
which  was  once  produced  among  them  with  but  a  trifling 
artificial  stimulant. 

Between  1S80  and  1886  every  farmer  in  the  United 
States,  on  all  the  nails  he  purchased,  paid  an  average  of 
thirty-five  cents  per  keg  more  than  had  he  the  privilege 
of  purchasing  in  the  open  markets  of  the  world.  During 
this  period  every  pound  of  horse-nails  worn  out  upon  the 
feet  of  the  horses  of  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  cost 
these  farmers  four  cents  per  pound  above  free-trade 
prices.  In  fact,  these  articles  were,  at  the  time  above- 
mentioned,  sent  from  Canada  to  New  York  for  export. 

But  it  is  the  tariff  against  the  import  of  European 
goods  which  causes  the  greatest  burden  to  be  put  upon 
the  farmers.  Every  article  shipped  between  the  United 
States  and  Canada  is  made  dear  through  the  practical 
prohibition  of  many  European  goods.  The  Canadian 
tariff  is  25  per  cent,  higher  against  the  average  import 
from  England  than  the  average  import  from  the  United 
States.  The  United  States  tariff  is  50  per  cent,  higher 
against  England  than  against  the  average  import  from 
Canada. 

Through  United  States  customs  laws  about  twenty 
millions  of  dollars  go  to  revenue  from  the  people's 
pockets  in  the  enhanced  price  of  imported  manufactures 


lOO  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

of  cotton,  and  about  ninety  millions  to  the  home  manu- 
facturers. Through  them  at  least  thirty-five  millions  of 
dollars  go  to  revenue  in  the  enhanced  price  of  imports  of 
iron  and  steel  goods,  and  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars 
to  the  home  manufacturers  ;  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  millions  to  revenue  on  woollen  goods,  and  one  hun- 
dred to  the  manufacturers  ;  about  thirty  millions  to 
revenue  on  the  import  of  glass,  and  fifteen  to  the  manu- 
facturers ;  about  five  millions  to  revenue  on  the  consump- 
tion of  salt,  and  two  and  one  half  millions  to  the  domestic 
producers  of  salt.  Of  these  amounts  at  least  two  thirds  are 
paid  by  the  farmers  of  the  United  States. 

In  1871,  Canada  manufactured  97  per  cent,  of  her 
agricultural  implements  under  a  tariff  of  15  per  cent.  In 
the  interest  of  manufacturers  the  duty  has  been  raised 
from  time  to  time,  until  it  now  averages  39  per  cent. 
The  writer  is  prepared  to  state  that  the  manufacturers,  of 
all  small  farming  tools  at  least,  have  loaded  the  price  of 
the  domestic  goods  to  very  near  the  full  extent  of  this 
protection. 

On  an  annual  import  by  the  Maritime  Provinces  of 
about  $150,000  worth  of  burning  oil,  a  duty  of  $100,000 
is  exacted,  principally  from  the  rural  districts,  all  for 
the  benefit  of  a  few  manufacturers  in  Petrolia. 

In  fact,  the  farmer  of  both  the  United  States  and 
Canada  has  to  pay  protectionist  taxes  on  nearly  every 
thing  he  eats,  drinks,  wears,  or  uses  in  the  prosecution  of 
his  industry.  He  has  to  do  this  in  order  that  favorites  of 
this  meddlesome  system  may  secure  profits  from  their 
investments.  These  favors  average  from  25  per  cent,  to 
100  per  cent,  in  the  United  States,  and  quite  near  as 
much  in  Canada, — principally  at  the  expense  of  the 
farmer. 


PROTECTION  A   DEADLY  ENEMY.  lOI 

The  socialists  are  right,  that  protection  implies  higher 
prices  for  goods,  but  it  does  not  imply  an  increase  in  the 
exchange  value  of  labor  unless  the  laborer  is  enabled  to 
combine  with  the  manufacturer.  The  socialist  should 
learn  that  there  are  two  values  to  be  considered  :  one,  the 
value  of  goods  in  use  or  in  consumption  ;  and  the  other, 
the  value  of  goods  in  exchange  or  in  production,  and  that 
the  former  is  quite  as  important  in  estimating  the  power 
of  income  as  the  latter. 

Nearly  one  half  of  the  families  of  the  continent  of 
America,  say  twenty  millions  of  families,  are  depending 
on  industries  almost  directly  upon  land  for  their  share 
of  what  is  called  the  world's  wealth.  And  what  is  this 
wealth  ?  Political  economy  says  :  "  Riches,  or  wealth,  is, 
in  fact,  power — the  power  of  getting  what  one  wishes 
done  by  other  men,  either  by  remunerating  them  direct- 
ly, as  in  the  case  of  servants,  or  by  purchasing  their 
products,  to  which  labor  must  be  applied."  And  again  : 
''  Wealth  may  be  defined  as  every  thing  which  answers  to 
men's  rational  wants.  The  complete  and  harmonious 
development  of  every  human  faculty  being  the  object  in 
view,  all  wants,  the  satisfaction  of  which  tends  to  this 
end,  may  be  considered  rational." 

It  is  a  true  political  economy  which  endeavors  to 
bring  about,  and  to  perpetuate,  that  condition  which 
tends  most  to  secure  to  all  men  the  power  of  wealth  in 
return  for  their  labor,  time,  and  efforts.  It  considers 
that,  barring  accidents,  the  full  play  of  natural  laws 
would  go  very  far  toward  giving  to  every  industrious  and 
permanent  citizen  the  opportunity  in  some  shape  for 
obtaining  an  ever  increasing  store  of  wealth,  or  a  chance 
for  the  satisfaction  of  an  ever  increasing  number  of 
wants.     Not  merely  power  to  satisfy  the  bare  necessities 


I02  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

of  an  undeveloped  existence,  but  for  something  far  be- 
yond this — something  which  makes  man  a  victor  over 
nature ;  opportunities  for  independent  action  ;  the 
chances  for  education,  for  travel,  for  comforts,  for 
luxuries,  for  the  adornment  of  homes  ;  the  power  for 
voluntary  action  in  charities,  religion,  or  for  social 
development.  It  is  in  the  growth  of  this  margin  that 
man  becomes  an  individuality,  an  independent  manhood. 

While  natural  laws  do  so  much  to  place  these  chances 
within  the  reach  of  most  men,  it  is  a  duty  resting  upon 
all,  by  every  legitimate  means,  to  gain,  in  some  shape, 
the   power   these   represent. 

It  is  undoubtedly  required  of  men  that  they  occupy 
as  large  a  place  in  the  affairs  of  life  as  possible.  The 
higher  their  aims,  it  is  the  more  important  that  they  con- 
trol the  influences  which  material  acquisitions  assist  in 
securing.  And  is  it  not  a  beautiful,  a  grand  arrange- 
ment in  the  laws  of  Providence,  that  the  prosperity,  the 
development  of  one  manhood  need  not  interfere  with 
others,  but  rather  that  the  advance  of  one  may  help  to 
carry  others  forward  ? 

Emerson  finely  says  :  "  Kings  have  long  arms,  but 
every  man  should  have  long  arms,  and  should  pluck  his 
living,  his  instruments,  his  power,  and  his  knowing  from 
the  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  Is  not  then  the  demand  to  be 
rich  legitimate  ?  Yet  I  have  never  seen  a  man  as  rich  as 
all  men  ought  to  be,  or  with  an  adequate  command  of 
nature.  The  pulpit  and  the  press  have  many  common- 
places denouncing  the  thirst  for  wealth,  but  if  men 
should  take  these  moralists  at  their  word,  and  leave  off 
aiming  to  be  rich,  the  moralists  would  rush  to  rekindle 
at  all  hazards  this  love  of  power,  lest  civilization  should 
be  undone." 


PROTECTION  A    DEADLY  ENEMY.  103 

Whether  the  aim  be  to  extend  the  beneficent  influences 
of  religion,  or  whether  we  seek  to  make  this  abode  of 
man  fairer,  and  brighter,  and  better  through  increase  in 
the  morality  and  virtue  of  its  denizens,  or,  if  we  con- 
sider only  the  purely  utilitarian  aspect  of  the  question, 
it  is  imperative  that  man's  efforts  toward  the  production 
of  wealth  shall  result  in  a  success  that  overlaps  the  satis- 
faction of  the  mere  felt  wants  of  an  existence.  But  we 
require  conditions  which  will  do  most  to  give  to  the 
greatest  number  these  blessings  of  onward  progress  ; 
better  that  the  aggregate  of  wealth  be  less,  if  in  the  max- 
imum there  must  be  great  inequality.  The  whole  history 
of  man  supports  the  foregoing  contention.  The  greatest 
progress  has  been  where  effort  has  been  crowned  with 
abundant  returns.  Through  these  successes  in  produc- 
tion power  has  been  borne  to  the  possessor,  opportunities 
have  become  possible  for  the  storing  of  wealth,  abundant 
and  profitable  consumption,  leisure  for  thought,  for  indi- 
vidual development. 

Bastiat  is  correct  in  his  claim  that  progress  everywhere 
is,  in  fact,  possible  only  through  the  increase  of  result  as 
compared  with  effort.  As  effort  is  at  the  minimum  as  to 
the  infinitude  of  result,  so  is  power  increased.  Retro- 
gression must  of  necessity  follow  the  diminishing  of  the 
results  of  effort,  until  society  is  reduced  to  barbarism, 
ruin,  and  annihilation. 

As  Bastiat  says  :  Do  we  not  see  everywhere  that  men  in 
the  management  of  their  own  interests  strive  by  all  means 
to  remove  obstacles  in  order  that  they  may  bring  effort 
down  to  the  minimum,  and  are,  on  the  other  hand,  en- 
deavoring by  every  recourse  to  secure  the  maximum  of 
result,  by  the  use  of  machinery,  by  invention,  by  the 
shortening   and   improving   of   routes   of  travel  and  of 


I04  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

transportation,  by  the  removal  of  difificulties  to  naviga- 
tion, and  by  securing  every  market,  in  all  lands,  for  the 
cheapest  and  most  desirable  articles  as  agents  in  repro- 
duction, or  for  unproductive  consumption  ? 

It  is  also  true  of  our  legislators  as  it  was  with  the 
legislators  of  Bastiat's  time,  that  though  obstructionists 
in  public  policy  when  looking  to  their  own  interests,  they 
show  that  they  recognize  the  advantages  of  their  procur- 
ing for  themselves  the  largest  returns  by  their  endeavors 
to  escape  the  friction  between  effort  and  reward  they 
place  against  others.  Is  it  not  a  common  occurrence  for 
legislators  to  favor  friends  and  corporations  by  the 
removal  of  obstructions  to  the  effectual  disposal  of  the 
results  of  labor  and  to  the  receiving  of  the  results  of  the 
labors  of  others  ?  What  is  all  this  for  but  to  increase  the 
margin  of  gain  between  effort  and  result  ?  In  Canada  a 
great  transcontinental  railway  has  lately  been  built  with 
free  foreign  material,  and  is  now  disbursed  and  repaired 
with  stock  disencumbered  from  the  taxation  burdens 
which  most  of  other  productive  enterprises  have  to  bear. 
What  has  this  been  for  but  to  secure  to  the  stockholders 
the  benefits  of  a  great  result  in  return  for  their  efforts  ? 

We  are  told  that  the  success  of  such  enterprises  is  a 
boon  to  the  whole  people.  But  is  it  not  so  with  most 
enterprises  ?  Should  not  the  success  of  agriculture  be  a 
boon  to  the  country  ?  Can  a  nation  afford  that  the 
farmers  above  all  others  shall  not  have  effort  crowned 
with  rich  result  ?  Or  is  it  wisdom  to  see,  without  regret, 
the  agricultural  population  obliged  to  absorb  the  stored- 
up  capital  of  the  past  in  order  to  cancel  the  deficit 
between  the  eifort  and  result  of  the  present  ? 

What  sort  of  a  national  policy  is  it  that  takes  no  heed 
to  these,  when  it  is  so  jealous  of  the  interests  of  others  ? 


PROTECTION  A    DEADLY  ENEMY,  105 

If  government  has  a  full  treasury,  supplied  from  the 
precious  metals  of  the  mountains  of  the  moon,  why  not 
secure  to  agriculture  a  never  failing  margin  between 
effort  and  result  ?  There  is  a  prevailing  opinion  or 
sentiment  that  our  farmers  and  their  like  are  only  show- 
ing a  commendable  and,  in  fact,  necessary  patriotism  in 
making  no  complaints  against  the  conditions  or  the  ap- 
parent impediments  which  exist  between  their  efforts  and 
liberal  returns  ;  that  it  is  only  the  proper  patriotism  for 
certain  classes  to  make  no  complaints  of  returns  which 
give  only  the  satisfaction  of  ordinary  wants,  so  long  as 
others  are  increasing  in  importance  and  power  ;  and  if 
they  wish  well  to  their  country  they  should  not  mind  if 
the  rightful  opportunities  for  a  high  place  in  the  world's 
progress  is  withheld  from  them,  so  long  as  their  country, 
by  it,  becomes  independent  in  variety  of  industries. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  trouble  which  is  not  confined  to 
one  country  only.  Any  country,  however,  is  badly  off 
without  a  goodly  number  of  patriotic  citizens,  but  we 
do  not  require  patriotism  from  certain  classes  only. 
We  should  not  demand  sacrifices  from  the  great  in- 
dustrious, frugal,  producing  multitudes,  and  relieve  those 
who  control  capital  and  the  national  purse-strings. 

Capital  is  permitted  to  gain  whatever  it  may  require 
as  agents  in  production,  relieved  from  artificial  impedi- 
ments in  order  that  its  efforts  may  exceed  the  minimum. 
We  have  an  illustration  in  Canada's  annual  import  of  the 
six  and  a  half  million  dollars' worth  of  hides,  cottons,  and 
sheep's  wool  freed  from  duty.  Capital  is  thus  favored, 
that  it  may  produce  with  a  minimum  of  effort,  at  the 
sacrifice  of  patriotic  treatment  toward  the  farmers  against 
whom  these  imports  compete.  Canadian  national  pride 
was  sacrificed  by  its  government  in  furnishing  the  High 
5* 


I06  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

Commissioner's  a  costly  establishment  in  London,  with 
English  fabrics  instead  of  Canadian.  What  a  splendid 
chance  was  thus  lost  for  an  exhibition  of  patriotic  feeling 
and  for  the  advertisement  of  the  country's  superior 
productions  ! 

When  the  Postmaster-General  requires  a  quantity  of 
wool  serge  for  postmen's  uniforms,  as  was  lately  the  case 
in  Canada,  the  order  goes  to  a  foreign  country,  although 
the  farmers  are  all,  more  or  less,  depending  on  the  suc- 
cessful production  of  the  raw  material  from  which  such 
goods  are  fabricated,  and  the  cloth  manufacturers  are 
grumbling  on  account  of  lack  of  orders. 

Protection — more  correctly  "  aggression  " — is  the  dead- 
ly enemy  of  our  farmers  ;  for,  while  the  general  tenden- 
cies are  for  monopoly  to  absorb  the  rural  population,  a 
protective  policy,  such  as  we  now  have,  derives  its  power 
to  assist  monopoly,  not  from  the  planets,  not  from  the 
mountains  of  the  moon,  but  from  the  pockets  of  the 
farmers. 

Protection  narrows  down,  to  the  farmer,  the  margin  of 
profit  between  effort  and  result.  Thus  his  opportunities 
for  progress  are  not  only  limited,  but  are  actually  being 
reduced  to  nothing.  The  results  are,  that  the  class  who, 
in  the  early  days  of  America's  history,  laid  the  founda- 
tion for  its  present  greatness,  are  in  the  future  to  be 
deprived  of  the  necessary  opportunities  for  economic 
power,  for  political  influence,  for  the  gain  of  knowledge, 
for  culture,  for  the  exercise  of  the  higher  faculties 
through  which  progress  is  possible.  There  can  be  no 
escape  from  this  conclusion,  for  reports  and  proofs  come 
to  us  from  all  parties  and  from  all  quarters,  that  the 
farmers  of  America  are  becoming  hopelessly  involved 
in  financial  ruin. 


PROTECTION  A    DEADLY  ENEMY.  lO/ 

Who  now  control  all  our  great  financial  schemes,  with 
their  far-reaching  social  and  political  consequences,  but 
the  men  who  are  secured  a  profit  in  their  undertakings 
by  government  at  the  expense  of  such  as  the  farmer? 
Who  hold  the  balance  of  power  in  our  legislation,  but 
the  men  who  are  secured  an  abundant  reward  for  their 
efforts  at  the  expense  of  those  situated  as  the  farmer  ? 
Who  are  able  to  give  to  their  families  the  shelter  and 
luxuries  of  $100,000  homes,,  and  to  their  children  the 
advantage  of  travel  and  European  education,  better  than 
those  who  are  subsidized  by  government,  at  the  expense 
of  those  situated  as  the  farmer  ?  Who  sit  in  higher  seats, 
and  in  finer  churches,  and  in  more  costly  robes,  than 
thoseVho  are  permitted  to  carry  on  a  practice  of  legal- 
ized brigandage  against  the  pockets  of  such  as  our 
farmers  ?  Who  travel  up  and  down  our  valleys,  occupy- 
ing our  palace  and  first-class  cars,  fill  our  best  hotels,  to 
a  greater  extent,  than  the  men  who  are  sanctioned  by 
government,  in  effecting  combinations  for  systematic 
raids  on  the  farmers'  narrow  incomes  ? 

The  result  of  protection  is  to  destroy  the  efiicacy  of 
the  natural  powers  of  soil  and  climate  ;  to  counteract 
the  rich  returns  of  the  earth,  and  dwarf  the  efforts  of 
men  ;  to  render  their  actions  futile  ;  to  exact  the  utmost 
from  the  capacity  of  the  producing  forces,  and  to  with- 
hold from  them  their  natural  powers  as  mediums  for  the 
satisfaction  of  wants.  It  is  to  pauperize  man  in  the 
midst  of  his  abundance  ;  it  is  for  man  to  see  his  over- 
flowing granaries,  without  power  to  gain  for  him  one 
step  forward  in  command  of  the  progress  to  which  he  is 
naturally  entitled  ;  it  is  for  him  to  witness  the  magnitude 
of  his  flocks  and  herds,  without  the  ability  to  cancel  the 
demands  of  the  usurer  and  the  tax-gatherer  ;  it  is,  in  fact, 


I08  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

a  force  in  the  direction  of  barbarism,  whereas  freedom 
from  its  thraldom  of  attendant  evils  would  allow  high 
measures  of  progress  and  development. 

Protection  causes  our  rich  valley  farms  to  be  little 
more  powerful  in  yielding  independence  to  the  owners, 
than  barren  hill-tops  would  yield  with  freedom.  It  makes 
our  mountain  farms  powerless  to  give  to  their  owners 
command  of  the  mediums  for  progress  of  scarcely  any 
kind  ;  it  is  to  shackle  the  farmers,  from  decade  to  decade, 
to  nothing  but  rounds  of  drudgery,  in  order  that  they 
may  be  permitted  merely  to  exist. 

To  meet  our  argument,  some  of  the  supporters  of  pro- 
tective legislation  contend  that  mankind  progresses  in 
civilization  much  faster  where  they  have  a  great  deal  to 
contend  against.  They  will  say  that,  where  natural  con- 
ditions are  too  favorable,  there  the  people  will  be 
indolent,  shiftless,  and  improvident ;  that  obstructions 
remedy  all  this  ;  yet  we  find  that,  where  the  obstructions 
have  been  great,  there  mankind  remains  the  same,  making 
no  perceptible  progress  through  ages. 

The  school  which  finds  obstructions  so  beneficial  for 
the  development  of  the  mass  is  not  the  least  disturbed 
at  the  prospect  of  easy  and  abundant  incomes  for  its 
own  members.  They  have  no  fear  for  the  consequences 
to  their  families  on  account  of  the  thousands  guaranteed 
to  them  by  government,  for  which  they  give  nothing  in 
return. 

Protection  has  been  very  properly  designated  Sisy- 
phism,  from  the  fact  that  its  effects  are  similar  to  those 
endured  by  the  robber  Sisyphus  of  fabulous  history,  *who 
was  punished  by  being  required  to  roll  a  huge  stone  to 
the  top  of  a  hill,  which  stone  constantly  returned,  con- 
signing him  to  perpetual  labor. 


PROTECTION  A    DEADLY  ENEMY.  1 09 

Protection  to  the  farmer  of  America  is  Sisyphism  at 
each  turn.  In  his  efforts  in  production  every  means 
necessary  for  its  accomplishment  is  loaded  with  Sisy- 
phism. Protection  stands  between  his  productions  and 
those  who  desire  them.  It  is  a  black,  unrelenting  wall, 
over  which  only  professional  smugglers  and  trained 
monopolists  climb  with  safety.  It  puts  a  friction  on 
every  line  of  transportation.  It  stands  ready  to  load 
with  Sisyphism  every  attempt  made  by  the  farmer  to 
gain  a  share  in  the  productions  of  other  lands,  for  the 
use  of  himself  and  family.  It  is  a  foe  which  robs  the 
farmer  of  three  dollars  through  taxes,  for  the  benefit  of 
monopolists  and  political  parasites,  to  one  for  the  neces- 
sary service  of  the  country.  It  is,  indeed,  Sisyphism, 
on  every  hand  ;  an  endless  slavery  to  its  chief  victims, 
the  farmers  of  America. 


CHAPTER  V. 

TRUSTS,    COMBINES,    ETC. 

A  RELIABLE  Statistical  expert  recently  published  the 
statement  that,  in  the  United  States  alone,  the  capacity 
for  manufacturing  the  principal  articles  of  production  is 
equal  to  the  requirements  of  two  hundred  and  sixty 
millions  of  people  instead  of  sixty  millions.  As  the 
country  has  little  foreign  market  for  her  manufactures, 
the  results  are:  idle  blast  furnaces,  closed-down  mills, 
restricted  production,  extensive  strikes,  frequently 
throwing  vast  numbers  out  of  employment ;  thus  causing 
losses  and  expenses,  which  are  thrown  upon  the  people 
in  various  ways. 

That  manufacturers,  as  well  as  undertakers  of  some 
other  great  enterprises,  may  be  safe  from  pressure  upon 
the  profits  of  their  investment  because  of  their  idle 
works,  and  from  competition,  or  that  the  returns  may  be 
commensurate  with  their  idea  of  what  the  public  should 
pay  for  their  services,  various  systems  are  brought  into 
play,  familiarly  known  by  the  names  of  trusts,  combines, 
and  associations. 

At  the  present  time,  huge  trusts — in  other  words, 
enormous  combinations  of  monopolies — are  the  prevail- 
ing methods  of  controlling  production  and  profits.  A  de- 
scription of  the  mode  of  forming  these  is  interesting. 

It  is  resolved  by  the  great  leading  firms  in  a  specified 
industry  to  put  themselves  in  a  position  to  secure  its 

no 


TRUSTS,    COMBINES,    ETC.  Ill 

success,  claiming,  of  course,  all  for  the  public  benefit. 
The  formation  of  a  trust  is  determined  upon  by  the  most 
powerful  of  the  industry.  These  give  notice  of  their 
decision  to  all  engaged  in  this  particular  branch  of  busi- 
ness. The  terms  and  stipulations  are  often  of  very 
objectionable  character ;  to  the  smaller  concerns,  very 
unfair  and  oppressive.  But  rather  than  suffer  the  annoy- 
ance of  continuous  competition  by  more  powerful  rivals, 
they  yield  and  become  subject  to  it.  Those  who  refuse 
to  enter  the  grand  union  are  squeezed  out  of  existence  ; 
witness  the  "  frozen  out "  sugar  refiners,  oil  operators, 
meat  dealers,  etc. 

One  of  the  first  effects  of  these  combinations  is  to 
destroy  all  healthy  markets  for  the  sale  of  raw  material. 
Only  one  appears  as  purchaser,  whereas,  before  the 
union,  many  were  appearing.  The  result  is  disastrous 
to  those  who  must  market  raw  materials,  unless  the 
owners  of  these  raw  materials  are  also  in  a  similar 
combination. 

The  Butchers'  National  Convention  in  Philadelphia 
recently  denounced  the  Western  beef  pool  at  Chicago  as 
''the  most  infamous  tyranny  that  ever  existed  in  the 
United  States.  .  .  .  We  think  also  that  the  worst 
combination  in  the  country  is  the  beef,  pork,  and  adul- 
terated lard  packers.  The  prices  of  cattle  to  the  pro- 
ducer having  gone  down  50  per  cent.,  and  the  price  to 
the  consumer  having  increased,  every  single  dollar  of 
the  difference  has  gone  into  the  pocket  of  the  com- 
bination." 

An  instance  of  the  power  of  trusts  to  control  the  price 
of  raw  products  occurred  at  the  port  of  New  York  in  Feb- 
ruary of  that  year  (1888).  A  cargo  of  1,200  tons  of  raw 
Manilla  sugar  arrived,  and  was  offered  at  auction — the 


112  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

usual  way  of  disposal.  There  was  just  one  bid  for  it,  and 
this  bid  secured  it  at  4J  cents  per  pound.  About  four  weeks 
previous  to  this  sale,  or  before  the  sugar  trust  had  begun 
to  show  its  power,  a  similar  cargo,  almost  a  duplicate, 
was  sold  under  competition  at  4I  cents  per  pound.  This 
was  a  matter  of  about  $15,000,  or  thereabout,  on  a  single 
cargo,  for  the  benefit  of  the  trust.  Meanwhile  the  re- 
fined article,  which  had  been  selling  for  6  cents  per 
pound,  was  advanced  to  7^  cents  or  to  8|  cents.  From 
these  data  we  gather  that  the  trust  realized  on  this  single 
transaction  over  $100,000,  through  restricting  compe- 
tition, on  purchase  of  raw  material,  and  the  sale  of  the 
refined  article. 

The  power  of  the  trust,  or  in  fact  any  monopoly  or 
capital  power  over  smaller  competitors,  was  well  exem- 
plified in  the  expose  before  the  House  Committee  at 
Washington  last  winter,  as  to  the  character  of  the  trans- 
actions of  the  Standard  Oil  Company  as  a  competitor. 
It  was  found  that  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  gave  the 
Standard  and  affiliated  companies  a  rebate  on  crude 
oil  of  49  cents  per  barrel  in  transportation  charges 
from  one  field,  and  51  cents  from  another.  The  rail- 
road also  gave  the  Standard  22^^  cents  per  barrel  on  all 
oils  shipped  by  all  people  not  affiliated  with  the  Stand- 
ard. The  rates  of  freight  were  $1.45  to  the  public  and 
80  cents  to  the  Standard.  State  Senator  Lewis  Emery, 
of  Bedford,  testified  to  the  effect  that  the  independent 
refineries  had  been  driven  from  the  field  by  reason  of 
the  rebates  allowed  the  Standard.  Representative 
Breckenridge  thought  that  the  amount  of  rebates  given 
to  the  Standard  amounted  in  the  aggregate  to  over 
$100,000,000.  Had  the  railways  treated  all  shippers 
alike,  those  shippers   would   now   have  a  larger  income 


TRUSTS,    COMBINES,    ETC.  II3 

by  fifteen  to  twenty  millions  of  dollars  annually  than 
they  now  enjoy. 

Advantages  similar  to  those  of  the  Standard  over 
their  competitors  are  being  secured  all  down  through 
our  manufacturing  and  commercial  enterprises.  Not 
long  since  a  certain  line  of  manufacture  was  not  paying 
the  concerns  interested  profits  which  satisfied  them.  A 
combine  was  proposed.  The  "  big  fish  "  of  the  industry 
refused  to  consent  to  an  arrangement  for  an  advance, 
unless  he  was  allowed  two  cents  per  dozen,  or  about  10 
per  cent,  on  sales  of  the  article  by  all  the  parties  to  the 
proposed  arrangement,  until  he  received  ten  thousand 
dollars  out  of  their  profits.  The  combine  was  formed  ; 
he  received  his  20  per-cent.  advance  on  his  own  produc- 
tion, and  finally  his  ten  thousand  dollars  from  the  others. 
Such  arrangements  are  being  continually  entered  into 
and  executed  all  over  America,  under  shelter  of  the 
country's  laws,  whenever  such  sheltering  is  required. 

Trusts  and  combines  place  the  consumer  at  the  mercy 
of  the  monopolist,  who  is  empowered  to  dictate  his  own 
terms.  If  the  consumer  will  but  open  his  eyes,  he  will 
see  that  in  many  important  industries  competition  has 
been  virtually  destroyed.  It  was  stated  not  long  since 
by  the  New  York  Times  that  the  Stair  Oil-Cloth  Associa- 
tion of  the  United  States,  a  pool  of  manufacturers,  had 
made  the  one  who  violates  the  terms  of  the  combine 
liable  to  a  fine  of  $500  :  no  customer  being  allowed  to 
undersell  stipulated  prices,  while  they  reserve  the  right 
to  advance  prices  at  any  time. 

Very  similar  to  the  action  of  the  Oil-Cloth  Association 
has  been  that  of  the  only  lock-manufacturing  company 
of  Canada.  Sheltered  behind  a  thirty-five-cent  protec- 
tion, it  has  put  in  force  a  requirement  that  all  jobbers 


I  14  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

who  purchasing  from  it  must  sell  no  lower  than  a  certain 
stipulated  price.  The  result  has  been  that  it  has  not 
only  pocketed  at  least  twenty-five  per  cent,  above  free- 
trade  prices,  but  has,  at  the  same  time,  compelled  its 
customers  to  exact  combination  prices  from  all  con- 
sumers. These  are  only  a  few  illustrations  of  a  wide- 
spread evil.* 

The  Montreal  Star  (Protectionist),  speaking  of  com- 
bines in  Canada,  says  :  ''  They  are  nothing  less  than  a 
scandalous  abuse  of  the  privilege  of  protection  from 
foreign  competition  granted  to  Canadian  manufacturers." 

Adam  Smith  was  not  far  from  correct  when  he  said  : 
"  The  price  of  monopoly  is  upon  every  occasion  the 
highest  which  can  be  got ;  .  .  .  the  highest  which  can  be 
squeezed  out  of  the  buyers." 

At  a  recent  session  of  the  legislature  at  Albany,  New 
York,  the  Committee  on  Trusts  gave  a  very  good  descrip- 
tion of  the  character  of  the  average  combine.  "  How- 
ever different  the  influences  which  give  rise  to  these 
combinations  may  be,  the  main  purpose,  management, 
and  effect  of  all  upon  the  public  is  the  same,  to  wit :  the 
aggregation  of  capital,  the  power  of  controlling  the  manu- 
facture and  output  of  various  necessary  combinations, 
the  acquisition  or  destruction  of  competitive  properties — 
all  leading  to  the  final  and  conclusive  purpose  of  annihi- 
lating competition,  and  enabling  the  combinations  to  fix 
the  price  at  which  they  would  purchase  the  raw  material 
from  the  producer,  and  at  which  they  would  sell  the 

'  ' '  All  the  Western  pottery  manufacturers,  with  a  single  exception, 
have  entered  into  an  agreement  to  maintain  prices  under  bonds  of 
$1 ,  200  each.  .  .  .  The  greater  portion  of  the  pottery  industries  in 
the  United  States  are  represented  in  the  combination." — Iron  Age, 
item,  Oct.  10,  1889. 


TRUSTS,    COMBINES,    ETC.  11$ 

refined  product  to  the  consumer.  In  any  event,  the 
public  at  each  end  of  the  industry — the  producer  and 
consumer — is,  and  is  intended  to  be,  in  a  certain  sense, 
at  the  mercy  of  the  syndicate,  combination,  or  trust."  ' 

'  To  evade  the  laws  which  have  been  recently  passed  aiming  at  the 
suppression  of  trusts,  these  organizations  are  merging  into  huge 
joint-stock  associations,  with  the  same  purposes  in  view  as  the  trusts 
— namely,  to  control  both  demand  and  supply. 


BOOK  IV. 

IMPOTENCE  OF  THE  REMEDIES  PROPOSED,  AND  THE 
ERRONEOUS  REASONS  ASCRIBED  FOR  THE  DIFFI- 
CULTIES NOW  OVERTAKING  THE  FARMERS  OF 
AMERICA. 

What  man  is  free  to  practise  or  not,  is  that  association  with  his 
fellow-men  which,  within  certain  limits,  increases  his  powers  and 
enables  him  to  perform  prodigies.  But  carry  this  association  to  ex- 
tremes, let  no  limit  be  assigned  to  its  action,  let  it  be  developed  and 
applied  without  measure  and  without  consideration,  and  where  does 
it  end — in  law  or  in  communism  ? — CouRTOls. 


CHAPTER  I. 

DOES  PROTECTION  PROTECT  THE  FARMER? 

The  admitted  decline  of  agriculture,  especially  in  the 
most  protected  countries,  gives  pretty  conclusive  evi- 
dence that  nothing  has  been  done  for  it  by  forcing  the 
growth  of  other  industries  at  its  expense.  Notwithstand- 
ing this,  it  has  been,  and  still  continues  to  be,  the  pros- 
pect of  indirect  benefit  to  farmers  sooner  or  later,  which 
has  tempted,  and  still  continues  to  tempt,  many  commu- 
nities to  submit  to  laws  which  promise  this  result. 

While  natural  laws  of  competition  govern  the  produc- 
tion and  exchange  value  of  farm  produce,  the  tendency 
is  to  make  the  consumer  of  farm  produce,  in  almost 
any  locality,  independent  of  the  local  producer  of  such 
products.  The  tendency  of  the  present  day — there  has 
always  been  a  tendency — is  in  the  direction  of  giving  the 
consumer  the  benefit  of  this  advantage  much  faster  than 
the  producer  could  gain  by  the  growth  of  forced  indus- 
tries. The  assumption  is  borne  out  by  all  facts  bearing 
on  the  history  of  the  subject.  The  conclusion  follows, 
that  protection,  to  be  consistent,  cannot  be  a  temporary 
national  policy.  It  must  either  grant  equal  privileges  all 
round,  which  would  be  absurd,  since  it  would  be  the 
people  granting  privileges  to  themselves  out  of  their  own 
pockets,  or,  after  it  has  built  up  certain  industries  to  the 
ruin  of  agriculture,  it  must  then  turn  round  and  build 

119 


120  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

up  agriculture  at  the  expense  of  other  industries.  It 
must  either  do  this,  or  it  must  be  decided  that  a  country 
may  be  as  well  off  without  prosperous  husbandmen  as 
with  them — a  position  which  it  will  hardly  do  to 
assume. 

Furthermore,  protection,  to  be  fair,  and  especially  to 
the  farmers,  should  be  extremely  local  in  its  operations. 
Each  protective  unit  should  be  very  small.  This  was  the 
idea  of  General  Hancock,  though  it  is  evidently  true  he 
lost  popularity  by  its  propagation.  A  protective  line 
drawn  around  North  America  might  serve  the  protective 
requirements  of  the  carpet,  rubber,  paper,  glass,  sugar, 
and  a  host  of  other  manufacturing  industries.  But  what 
would  it  do  to  protect  the  fruit,  the  cattle,  the  sheep,  the 
horses,  and  many  other  productions  of  the  farm  ?  The 
half-dozen  concerns  that  may  govern  a  line  of  manufac- 
ture may  easily  form  combinations  to  govern  the  prices 
of  their  commodities,  but  not  so  the  farmer. 

To  serve  the  protective  purpose  of  the  fruit  raisers  of 
New  York,  they  must  be  protected  from  the  fruit  indus- 
tries of  Michigan  ;  the  cattle  raisers  of  New  England 
and  the  Maritime  Provinces  from  Texas,  Illinois,  and 
the  Northwest  ;  the  grain  grower  of  the  East  from  the 
grain  grower  of  the  West ;  the  potato  producers  of  New 
England  from  their  rivals  in  the  Maritime  Provinces  ; 
the  grain,  butter,  and  cheese  productions  of  the  Maritime 
Provinces  from  those  of  Ontario,  Manitoba,  and  the 
Western  States  ;  and  so  on. 

Protection  for  the  purpose  of  building  up  varied  indus- 
tries, that  the  farmer  might  be  eventually  benefited,  has 
so  far  been  a  conspicuous  failure  in  America.  The 
sacrifices  which  this  class  has  been  called  upon  to  make 
have  never  been  made  good,  nor  can  they  ever  be. 


DOES  PROTECTION  PROTECT    THE   EARMER?      121 

In  fact,  the  admissions  that  are  made  by  protectionists 
as  to  the  continued  failure  of  the  Eastern  farmers  on 
account  of  Western  competition,  are  a  tacit  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  opinion  that  the  manufacturers  of  the  East 
have  not  come  to  the  aid  of  Eastern  farmers,  as  yet, 
though  the  manufacturers  have  been  receiving  aid  from 
the  farmers  for  a  century. 
6 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  HOME  MARKETS  FURTHER  CONSIDERED. 

It  is  claimed  for  protective  legislation,  that  by  stimu- 
lating the  growth  of  home  industries,  and  the  creation  of 
home  markets  for  the  products  of  the  soil,  a  stop  is  put 
to  the  export  of  the  extractive  industries '  of  the  coun- 
try. That  a  tremendous  waste  is  continually  going  on  in 
the  consumption  of  farm  products,  through  their  practical 
annihilation,  at  least  for  the  time,  as  agents  of  reproduc- 
tion, is  very  apparent.  The  waste  is  taking  place  at 
home,  in  every  city  of  America.  From  all  over  the 
Union  food  products  find  their  way  to  the  New  York 
market,  are  consumed,  and  the  principal  part  of  their 
fertilizing  properties,  in  the  change,  flows  to  the  ocean. 
Probably  hundreds  of  tons  of  beef  are  transported  from 
the  country  to  that  city  each  week,  and  but  a  trifling  part 
finds  its  way  back  again  to  the  country.^ 

The  products  of  the  extractive  industries  are  continu- 
ally being  shipped  between  nations,  and  protective  legis- 
lation is  powerless  to  prevent  it.  Since  Great  Britain 
adopted  a  free-trade  policy,  other  countries  have  cease- 
lessly poured  into  the  ports  of  that  country  the  products 

'  Agriculture  is  not  properly  an  extractive  industry. 

"  The  city  of  Brooklyn  alone  expends  ninety  thousand  dollars  annu- 
ally in  carrying  off  to  the  ocean  the  kitchen  garbage,  to  say  nothing  of 
what  goes  in  the  sewers. 


THE  HOME  MARKETS  FURTHER  CO.WSIDERED.    1 23 

of  their  extractive  industries.  The  United  States,  with  a 
policy,  one  of  the  objects  of  which  has  been  to  create 
home  markets  for  the  products  of  the  farm,  sent  to  other 
nations  (principally  Great  Britain)  during  the  six  years, 
1875-1880,  of  the  products  of  the  farm  $3,114,785,000, 
and  during  the  six  following  years,  ending  with  1886, 
$3,453,323,000,  or  about  72  per  cent,  of  the  total  exports 
of  the  Republic.  Under  protective  legislation  there  has 
been  no  diminution  of  the  volume  of  the  substance  of  this 
outflow,  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  vast  increase.  In  i860 
the  proportion  of  United  States  exports  other  than  manu- 
factured goods  was  83  per  cent,  of  her  total  export ;  in 
1870,  87  per  cent.,  in  18S0  it  rose  to  88  per  cent.,  or  a  total 
volume  of  $685,961,000  ;  73  per  cent,  of  the  total  in  1888. 
In  the  revenue-tariff  period,  or  in  the  ten  years  between 
1850  and  i860,  the  growth  of  home  manufacturing  indus- 
tries reached  88  per  cent.,  while  in  the  extremely  high- 
tariff  period,  i860  to  1880,  or  in  20  years,  the  increase 
was  only  139  per  cent.  The  export  of  manufactured 
goods  increased,  in  the  low-tariff  period  just  mentioned, 
to  the  extent  of  171  per  cent.,  while  in  the  twenty  years 
which  followed,  the  increase  was  only  90  per  cent. 
Farther  than  this,  we  are  not  aware  that  the  yearly 
export  of  manufactured  goods  from  the  United  States 
has  ever  risen  above  $130,000,000.  These  facts  have 
special  significance  to  the  farmer,  for  they  go  to  prove 
that,  with  all  that  has  been  done  to  build  up  the  nation 
through  the  manufacturing  industries,  these  industries 
have  done  nothing  to  bring  wealth  from  abroad.  The 
whole  burden  put  upon  consumers  through  inflated  prices 
of  manufactures,  has  been  borne  by  one  class  for  the 
benefit  of  another.  And  we  must  know  that  the  farmer 
has  had  to  carry  a  good  part  of  the  load  at  every  turn. 


124  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

The  condition  of  the  agricultural  lands  of  New  Eng- 
land, notwithstanding  the  great  development  of  its  cities, 
is  very  good  proof  that  there  is  something  wrong  in  the 
home-market  theory. 

The  true  home-market  theory  for  the  farmer  is  in  the 
independence,  through  natural  laws,  of  each  little  rural 
home.  By  allowing  these  to  be  the  base  of  economic 
action,  a  home  market  is  always  secured.  Manufactures 
will  spring  up  as  they  are  required.  The  productions  of 
the  farm  will  be  the  raw  material  of  the  home  manu- 
facturer. Then  our  manufactures  will  be  of  natural 
development,  and  these  will  exchange  in  foreign  countries 
for  such  goods  as  are  the  natural  productions  of  those 
countries. 

This  is  the  true  division  of  labor,  with  a  natural,  a  solid 
base.  How  senseless  it  is  to  force  foreign  raw  material 
into  our  markets  in  order  to  give  employment  to  our 
artisans,  when,  without  compulsion,  artisans  might  be 
fabricating  our  own  raw  materials  for  foreign  countries. 
By  following  the  former  course,  our  position  is  always 
false  ;  by  the  latter  it  would  be  sound  and  enduring, 
causing  all  classes  to  be  ever  more  and  more  self- 
sustaining. 


CHAPTER  III. 

TRUSTS   FOR   THE   FARMERS. 

There  is  quite  a  prevalent  feeling  among  farmers 
that,  if  trusts  and  combines  are  to  be  the  order  of  the 
future,  the  farmer  may  as  well  enjoy  whatever  benefits 
can  be  derived  from  them  ;  that  many  lines  of  the 
farmer's  productions  might  well  come  into  combination 
to  the  farmer's  advantage,  such  as  the  milk  business,  the 
marketing  of  butter,  and  the  like.  Their  opinion  is  this  : 
that  the  services  of  middlemen  may  be  dispensed  with, 
prices  made  steady,  and  a  profit  from  their  industry  al- 
ways made  secure,  resulting  in  an  advantage  to  the  buyer 
as  well  as  to  the  seller.  This,  however,  has  been  the 
argument  of  all  who  are  about  entering  the  charmed 
circle  of  the  combine.  It  is  desirable  for  all  farmers  to 
give  the  character  of  the  trust  or  combine  a  searching 
examination,  that  they  may  know  whether  they  may  so 
far  countenance  the  principle  of  the  combine  as  to  de- 
pend upon  such  means  for  benefiting  themselves.  The 
indirect  consequences,  as  well  as  the  remote  results, 
should  be  well  weighed.  However  just  and  honorable 
may  be  the  motives  which  prompt  men  to  enter  into  an 
association,  the  object  of  which  is  to  make  safe  their 
position  in  transactions  with  their  fellow-men  who  may 
not  be  placed  in  equally  secure  positions  themselves,  and 
upon  whom  the  means  for  the  success  of  their  enterprise 

125 


126  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

must  largely  depend,  it  is  a  dangerous  position  to  occupy. 
As  men  gain  power,  they  are  apt  to  feel  power  ;  and  be- 
come infused  with  the  idea  that  power  is  safest  with 
them  and  may  be  increased  with  profit  to  all.  If  they 
escape  this  themselves,  there  is  always  risk  of  their 
associates  becoming  subject  to  this  influence. 

The  nature  of  trusts  and  combines  is  to  encourage  the 
impulse  which  seeks  gain  at  the  expense  of  others.  This 
is  an  impulse  which,  for  many  reasons,  the  rural  classes 
have  a  most  decided  interest  in  checking  in  every  possi- 
ble way.  The  effect  of  a  trust  that  succeeds,  is  to  crush 
all  who  are  not  inclined  to  come  under  its  manage- 
ment. This  is  decidedly  against  the  permanent  welfare 
of  the  masses  engaged  in  agriculture.  The  trust  also 
forces  terms  upon  the  weakest  members,  and  the  weak 
become  subject  to  the  strong  ;  a  condition  which  the  true 
friend  of  the  typical  American  farmer  would  avoid  as 
the  danger  of  the  future — real  enthronement  of  wealth. 
The  trust  causes  business  to  pass  over  to  the  hands  of 
a  directorate  ;  thus  it  brings  the  majority  of  its  members 
into  a  practical  slavery.  Its  tendency  is  to  stop  the 
growth  of  individuality. 

Completeness,  individuality,  self-dependence,  is  the 
ideal  life  which  the  country  should  stimulate — a  state  so 
desirable  for  the  really  developed  man.  The  growth  of 
sentiments  and  customs  of  a  slavish  character  develops 
slavery.  It  is  necessary,  that  the  rural  classes  may 
retain  their  individuality,  that  they  exercise  it  in  all 
their  institutions.  In  the  stimulating  of  this  individual 
development,  there  is  the  greatest  actual  bond  of  union. 
"  Throughout  our  solar  system,  harmony  of  movement — 
interdependence — is  a  result  of  that  local  attraction 
which  preserves  a  perfect  independence.     So,  too,  is  it 


TRUSTS  FOR    THE   FARMERS.  12/ 

with  nations,  the  tendency  toward  peace  and  harmony 
among  them  being  in  the  ratio  of  their  interdependence  ; 
that,  in  its  turn,  being  the  direct  ratio  of  their  indepen- 
dence." '  Since  liberty  is  the  soul  of  independence — 
power,  so  must  a  true  interdependence  know  no  slavish 
bonds.  Association,  union,  there  should  be  among  farm- 
ers, but  it  should  partake  of  no  compulsory  characteristics 
calculated  to  weaken  the  springs  of  individual  activity. 
The  trust,  then,  is  not  for  the  use  of  the  farmer,  though 
we  would  not  throttle  it  in  the  manner  that  some  legis- 
lators undertake  to  do. 

Henry  C.  Carey,  vol.  iii.,  p.  464. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

PROTECTION    AS    IT    REFERS    TO    AGRICULTURE    IN 
ENGLAND; 

In  Great  Britain,  the  freemen,  or  small  holders  of  the 
land  have  been  over-borne  from  time  to  time  in  one  way 
and  another,  until  they  have  become  about  extinct  as  a 
class.  The  great  body  of  the  farmers  of  England  now 
own  no  land,  but  they  must  depend  upon  the  lords  of 
the  manor  for  the  privilege  of  tilling  the  soil,  though  not, 
as  once,  obliged  under  all  circumstances  to  accept 
these  lords'  terms. 

The  agricultural  lands  of  Great  Britain  are  supposed 
to  support  three  classes — namely,  the  landlord,  the  capi- 
talist farmer,  and  the  farm  laborer.  When  a  bushel  of 
grain  is  raised  in  England,  three  parties  must  each  have 
a  share  in  the  profit.  The  chances  for  a  share  of  this 
profit  to  any  one  of  these  parties  have  very  much  les- 
sened during  the  last  fifty  years.  The  chances  for  the 
landlord  to  take  this  profit  to  himself  have  also  very 
much  lessened  in  the  same  period.  For  many  years,  agri- 
culture in  the  hands  of  the  landlords  was  a  monopoly  ; 
profits  through  laws  which  prevented  foreign  competi- 
tion being  secured  to  the  landlord.  These  profits  went 
to  the  landlord  because  the  labor  market  was  glutted. 

These  conditions  are  all  changed.  Agriculture  is  not 
now  a  monopoly  in  England  ;  and  the  laborer  is  much 

128 


PROTECTION  IN  ENGLAND.  1 29 

more  independent  of  the  landlord.  Food  supplies  now 
invade  the  markets  of  Great  Britain,  from  the  broad  fields 
of  America,  India,  and  the  continent,  at  prices  which 
appal  the  home  producer.  But  the  landlord  is  the  one 
who  looks  upon  this  with  the  most  concern.  The  cap- 
italist farmer  and  the  laborer  are  comparatively  free  to 
escape  to  other  occupations. 

Fifty  to  one  hundred  years  ago,  the  English  farm  and 
English  landlords  were,  as  types,  peculiar  to  England. 
The  American  farm  and  the  American  farmer,  as  types, 
were  peculiar  to  America.  Their  relative  conditions  in 
this  respect  have  vastly  changed,  and  with  it  another 
striking  change  has  come  about.  In  those  days  land- 
lordism in  England  was  all  that  could  be  desired  by  the 
English  landlord,  and  the  landless  English  farmers,  who 
were  able  to  emigrate,  were  becoming  the  typical  farmers 
of  America.  To-day  the  English  capitalist  invests  his 
money  in  American  land  to  become  a  competitive  agri- 
culturist, while  the  average  emigrant  is  not  attracted  to 
the  land,  but  comes  to  swell  the  other  occupations.  Al- 
though such  a  large  portion  of  our  interests  are  agricul- 
tural, not  more  than  one  to  fifteen  come  as  agriculturists.* 

Why  these  relative  changes  ?  Are  we  not  insidiously 
bringing  upon  the  small  farmers  of  America  what  was 
done  to  them  in  England  in  past  times  by  force  ? 

Adam  Smith's  idea  that  agriculture,  as  he  saw  it  in 
England,  was  the  best  of  industries,  because  it  supported 
three  classes,  was  calculated  to  create  an  impression 
hardly  correct  as  an  axiom  of  political  economy. 

Intrinsically  great  as  the  industry  undoubtedly  is,  it  is 
not  able  to  support  an  idle  class,  and  when  openly  forced 

'  In  1886,  of  117,546  males  immigrating  into  the  United  States, 
only  20,528  came  as  farmers. 
6* 


I30  AMERICAN-  FARMS. 

to  do  SO,  as  in  past  days  in  England,  it  must  have  been  at 
the  expense  of  others. 

In  the  days  of  monopoly  in  English  agriculture  the 
lands  of  England  assumed  a  value  which  they  could  not 
maintain.  Consequently,  in  comparing  the  condition  of 
agriculture  there  now  with  former  periods  and  with  other 
countries,  we  must  conclude  that  in  England  a  more 
normal  condition,  even  under  a  chronic  disorder,  is  being 
reached  for  a  time  ;  while  in  America  an  abnormal  condi- 
tion increases,  while  a  chronic  disorder  is  being  produced. 

When  was  the  English  farmer  in  a  more  miserable  con- 
dition than  just  prior  to  the  repeal  of  the  corn  laws  ? 
Lardner's  A7inual  Retrospect^  of  1831,  stated  that  the 
most  interesting  topic  touched  upon  in  the  king's  speech, 
was  that  contained  in  the  paragraph  which  informed  Par- 
liament that  "  the  export  of  British  produce  and  manu- 
factures in  the  last  year  had  exceeded  that  of  any  former 
year."  It  lamented  that ''  notwithstanding  this  indication 
of  active  commerce,  distress  should  prevail  among  the 
agricultural  and  manufacturing  classes  in  some  parts  of 
the  United  Kingdom."  Says  our  authority  *  :  "  The 
country  gentlemen  brought  reports  to  Parliament  'of 
the  sufferings  among  the  tenantry  and  laborers,  that 
rents  could  not  be  paid,  and  poor-rates  had  absorbed 
the  profits  of  the  farmers.  One  petition  to  Parliament, 
from  Bedfordshire,  stated  that  the  laborers  were  receiv- 
ing wages  which  gave  them  barely  the  means  of  pro- 
tracting a  cheerless  existence,  deprived  of  all  the  comforts 
and  almost  all  the  necessaries  of  life  ;  that  there  are 
parishes  in  the  country  purely  agricultural,  where  fifty 
to  ninety  able-bodied  men,  destitute  of  other  work, 
are  employed  bv  the  parishes,  and  receiving  four  shil- 

'   The  Financial  Reformer^  of  Liverpool. 


PROTECTION  IN  ENGLAND.  13I 

lings  a  week,  and  that  no  blame  attaches  to  the  farmers, 
who  are  unable  to  afford  more."  In  Berkshire  ''  the 
weekly  payment  to  able-bodied  men  who  could  find 
employment  is  stated  as  being  in  some  places  so  low  as 
two  shillings  and  sixpence."  A  Buckingham  petition  in- 
formed Parliament  that  "  many  persons  commit  depreda- 
tions and  misdemeanors  to  get  into  prison,  thus  to 
preserve  themselves  from  lingering  starvation  "  ;  that 
"many  have  contracted  disorders  by  eating  the  flesh 
of  animals  that  die  naturally,  and  other  unwholesome 
food."  The  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  in  presenting 
one  from  Frome,  in  Somersetshire,  said,  in  support  of  it : 
"I  have  been  a  witness  to  the  most  afflicting  distress, 
which  I  could  not,  if  I  would,  describe." 

Sir  James  Caird,  a  very  high  authority  on  these  mat- 
ters, recently  stated  before  a  committee  in  England 
that  the  spendable  income  from  the  landed  interests 
fell  off  $114,000,000  in  1885.  And  yet  it  is  evident 
that  the  mere  day  laborer  was  in  no  such  deplora- 
ble condition  in  1885,  as  is  related  of  sixty  years  ago  in 
the  foregoing  paragraph.  Evidences  clearly  indicate 
that  the  land-owner,  and  tenant  paying  rents  upon  a 
basis  of  former  values,  are  those  of  the  landed  interests 
which  are  feeling  the  depression  most. 

Finally,  we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that,  in  all  our  com- 
parisons as  to  the  condition  of  agriculture  in  England  to- 
day with  former  times  and  with  other  countries,  we  should 
keep  the  fact  well  in  view  that  its  congested  state  is  due 
to  the  evil  results  of  protection  in  the  past,  and  a  bad 
system  of  land-holding  opposed  to  the  best  use  of  land. 

Germany,  France,  and  Italy,  all  having  high  protective 
tariffs,  are  each  contending  with  most  perplexing  agri- 
cultural difficulties. 


CHAPTER  V. 

AS   TO   FRUGALITY. 

Not  a  few,  even  of  farmers  themselves,  attribute  the 
disease,  which  they  have  to  admit  is  settling  itself  upon 
agriculture  in  America,  or  upon  the  economic  affairs  of 
those  who  pursue  it,  to  their  habits  of  expensive  living. 
For  a  cure  they  demand  frugality.  This  demand  may, 
in  a  sense,  be  reasonable  ;  but  those  who  make  it  must 
concede  to  the  view  that  they  ask  cure  for  a  disease 
which  is  growing  upon  other  classes  even  more  than 
upon  the  farmers.  Then,  why  are  the  agriculturists  less 
able  to  bear  up  under  it  than  other  classes  ? 

It  may  well  be  claimed  that  the  consumption  of  the 
income  of  the  husbandman  is  as  rational  as  that  of  any 
of  his  contemporaries.  Let  one  become  familiar  with 
the  expenditures  and  habits  of  the  bulk  of  the  manufac- 
turing and  commercial  classes,  and  they  will  be  con- 
vinced that  these  are  far  more  irrational  in  such  respects. 
In  fact,  the  farmer,  of  all  men,  feels  very  sensibly  the 
consequences  of  any  injudicious  use  of  his  means.  The 
farmer  also  faces,  as  no  one  else,  the  responsibility 
of  his  folly.  It  can  rarely  be  thrown  upon  others,  as 
in  the  more  commercial,  or  even  professional,  occupa- 
tions. Governments  may  be  extravagant,  and  their  sup- 
porters commend  them  for  it,  claiming  that  the  country  so 
represented  is  made  to  appear  more  important  and  influ- 

132 


AS    TO  FRUGALITY.  1 33 

ential  through  these  expenditures  ;  but  the  people  pay 
for  them.  The  patent-medicine  vender  spends  his  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  in  advertising,  for  the  purpose  of 
creating  an  interest  in  his  compounds.  The  more  con- 
spicuous for  costliness  these  outlays,  the  better  they  pay  ; 
but  the  consumer  foots  the  bill.  The  merchant  spends 
his  thousands  upon  plate-glass  windows  for  his  store,  be- 
cause it  pays  ;  but  the  customers  at  his  store  pay  the 
bill.  The  clerk  and  the  commercial  traveller  must  dress 
well,  and  the  latter  must  visit  the  best  hotels  ;  and  the 
consumers  of  the  goods  he  sells  must  eventually  settle 
the  bill.  We  can  safely  say,  that  whatever  may  be  the  evil 
of  a  too  liberal  use  of  income,  such  habits  have  not  been 
engendered  within  the  ranks  of  the  farmers,  but  come 
from  without. 

But  is  there  justice  in  the  growing  inability  of  farmers 
to  equal  others  in  a  liberal  consumption  ?  Probably  not 
one  farmer  in  a  hundred,  no,  not  one  in  a  thousand,  is 
consuming  as  liberally  as  we  desire  that  he  should, 
though  perhaps  less  rationally.  It  is  a  calamity  for  a 
class  to  lose  its  power  to  consume.  Being  continually 
so  situated,  it  must  relapse  into  slavery  of  some  kind. 
The  man  who  is  in  bondage  to  another,  consumes  merely 
that  he  may  produce.  The  one  who  can  only  consume 
what  barely  suffices  for  an  existence,  is  a  slave  to  his 
necessities.  As  man  gets  beyond  this,  and  can  become 
victor  over  nature,  he  becomes  free.  The  greater  the  con- 
sumption, provided  it  be  complete,  the  more  advanced  the 
individual,  the  more  rational,  the  expansion  of  all  the  en- 
dowments with  which  God  has  been  pleased  to  favor  him. 

No  !  instead  of  less  consumption  for  the  farmer  of 
America,  to  allow  him  more  should  be  the  aim  of  all 
who  would  guide  his  destinies  to  a  happy  issue. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

HENRY  GEORGE'S  REMEDY. 

The  undoubted  tendency  of  the  time  toward  larger 
farms,  and  the  control  of  land  by  men  of  capital,  and  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  farms  owned  by  others  than 
the  occupiers,  is  evidently  an  indication  that  capital  has, 
in  some  way,  gained  an  ascendency  over  the  typical 
American  farmers.  That  the  greater  number  of  farms 
becoming  subject  to  the  landlord  are  those  of  the 
quite  small  areas,  also  goes  to  prove  that  the  small  land 
proprietors  are  giving  up  the  contest  more  rapidly  than 
any  others. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  there  is  nothing  in  the 
nature  of  the  conditions  now  existing  to  give  a  grain  of 
weight  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  destruction  of  land 
values  to  the  individual  would,  in  any  way,  give  relief 
to  the  small  land  proprietor.  That  the  large  farm  is 
growing  larger  by  additions  to  its  area  of  the  small  farms 
about  it,  only  shows  that  the  larger  farm  is,  in  some 
way,  better  circumstanced  to  hold  its  own  in  the  contest 
for  gain. 

The  causes  which  have  brought  the  small  farms  into 
the  hands  of  the  capitalists  are  various,  but  the  weight 
of  mortgage-debt  has  been  the  final  agent  in  the  ma- 
jority of  cases.  The  once  fortunate  owners  of  such 
farms  were,  at  the  first,  benefited  by  small  loans    from 

134 


HENRY  GEORGE'S  REMEDY.  1 35 

the  usurer,  but  through  their  struggle  to  keep  on  with 
their  enterprises,  and  to  meet  the  demands  of  society 
levied  upon  them,  their  debts  were  increased,  interest 
ceased  to  be  paid,  and  finally  the  mortgagee  took  them 
over  to  save  his  money.  In  the  vast  majority  of  cases 
to-day  the  owners  of  tenanted  farms  would  gladly  sell 
them  off  at  a  good  discount  on  the  amounts  which  they 
have  invested  in  them.  They  have  no  desire  to  be  land- 
lords, and  it  has  only  been  through  the  failure  of  the 
mortgageors  that  they  have  become  so  possessed  with 
land. 

The  tendency  of  the  present  time  in  America  is  to  de- 
stroy love  for  country  life — to  denude  the  farmer  of 
the  sentiments  that  should  impel  him  to  hand  down  to 
his  own  posterity,  intact,  the  lands  of  his  forefathers, 
with  all  their  valued  associations.  The  single  tax  is  cal- 
culated to  give  greater  impetus  to  this  most  undesirable 
tendency.  It  is  to  increase  this  tendency  with  those 
who  engage  in  rural  pursuits,  for  them  to  look  upon 
the  farm  as  only  a  great  factory  for  material  purposes, 
and  material  purposes  only.  The  farms  subjected  to  it 
would  become  more  and  more  the  possession  of  those 
who  would  look  upon  them  only  as  the  medium  through 
which  to  gain  riches.  Its  adoption  would  be  but  to 
give  more  stimulus  to  a  tendency  which  Mr.  George 
dilates  upon  as  an  evil  of  great  proportions  already — 
"  bonanza  farming."  "  These  machine-worked  '  grain 
factories '  of  our  Great  Republic  of  the  New  World  are 
doing  just  what  was  done  by  the  slave-worked  lati- 
fundia  of  the  Roman  world.  Here,  they  prevent,  where 
there,  they  destroyed,  '  the  crop  of  men.'  "  '  The  whole- 
sale system  of  agriculture,  gathering  more  and  more 
'  "  The  Land  Question,"  p.  59. 


13^  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

force  in  America,  is  something  far  more  to  be  feared 
than  any  danger  from  landlordism.  Under  it  are  being 
destroyed  our  "  best  crops  of  men  " —  our  small  land  pro- 
prietors,—  a  trouble  that  would  not  abate  one  iota  under 
the  single-tax  regime. 

Mr.  George's  remedy  would  relieve  the  "  bonanza  fac- 
tories "  of  farm  produce  in  the  great  West  from  taxes, 
for  he  says  :  "  To  put  taxation  solely  upon  land  values 
would  shift  the  weight  of  taxation  from  the  sparsely  set- 
tled agricultural  districts  to  those  populous  centres  where 
land  has  a  real  and  a  high  value.  As  it  would  destroy 
the  speculative  value  of  land,  the  result  would  be  that 
many  farmers  would  have  no  taxes  at  all  to  pay  ;  for,  no 
matter  what  might  be  the  value  of  his  improvements,  no 
farmer  would  have  more  taxes  to  pay  than  could  be  col- 
lected from  unimproved  land  equal  to  his  own  in  quality 
and  situation." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  advocates  of  the  single-tax 
claim  that  one  of  their  aims  is  to  make  the  great  unoccu- 
pied lands  in  the  hands  of  the  capitalists  cheap  by  taxing 
them,  in  order  that  men  of  small  means  may  obtain  them. 
I  think  the  result  would  be  more  likely  in  the  direc- 
tion of  making  them  bonanza  agricultural  estates,  and 
thus  increase  competition  in  agriculture. 

The  single-tax  theory  abounds  with  contradictions,  but 
at  best  it  has  nothing  to  offer  for  the  relief  of  the  small 
farmer.  The  great  aim  of  the  single-tax  advocate  is  to 
bring  about  a  greater  equality  in  the  distribution  of  wealth 
among  men.  It  might  have  a  levelling  tendency  in  some 
instances,  but  in  others  it  would  have  just  the  opposite 
effect.  We  will  suppose  the  case  of  two  farms  of  equal 
size  and  natural  value,  and  each  paying  the  same  heavy 
tax  :    the  owner  of  the  one  having  capital   to  procure 


HENRY  GEORGE'S  REMEDY.  1 37 

the  best  of  machinery,  drains  for  his  lands,  trees  for  his 
orchards,  and  every  article  required,  at  the  lowest  price 
at  which  they  could  be  purchased  ;  the  other  having 
none  of  these  advantages.  Under  such  conditions  the 
latter  would  be  driven  to  the  wall.  Under  such  a  tax 
it  would  be  only  men  of  capital  who  could  carry  on  pro- 
duction. Mr.  George's  remedies,  from  any  point  of 
view,  would  only  make  matters  worse  for  the  small 
farmer.' 

'  See  Book  V.,  Chapter  II.,  on  "  The  Single  Tax." 


BOOK  V. 

TAXATION. 

With  high-tariff  men,  I  am  for  promoting  American  industry ; 
and  with  them,  I  am  for  bringing  the  producer  and  consumer  as  near 
together  as  practicable.  Nevertheless,  I  am  an  absolute  Free-Trader. 
I  would  have  no  custom-house  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Never  will 
government  be  administered  honestly  and  frugally  until  the  cost  of 
administering  it  is  paid  by  direct  taxation.  And  never  will  govern- 
ment be  confined  within  its  proper  limits,  until  its  sole  office  shall  be 
to  protect  persons  and  property. — Gerrit  Smith. 


CHAPTER  I. 

TAXATION   Ix\   GENERAL. 

Taxation  of  some  sort  and  degree  is  a  necessity 
of  civilized  life,  and  it  should  be  the  desire  of  every 
intelligent  citizen  to  contribute  something  to  meet  the 
needs  of  organized  society.  Yet,  on  the  whole,  it  must 
be  considered  one  of  the  social  burdens,  and  should  be 
limited  in  its  extent  to  the  actual  requirements  of  the 
state. 

Excessive  taxation  is  evidently  a  very  great  evil, 
though  it  has  been  strangely  enough  urged,  by  men  high 
in  legislative  positions,  that  through  it  is  "  the  only 
gateway  to  prosperity."  Taxation  of  this  sort,  says  the 
wise  economist,  is  "  a  kind  of  suicide,"  however  laid  ; 
while  it  is  little  less  than  criminal,  when  clumsily  or  in- 
equitably drawn  from  the  masses  ;  for  its  continuance 
must  finally  end  in  the  ruin  of  many  whose  incomes  are 
not  sufificient  to  bear  any  added  strain. 

The  rapidity  with  which  taxation  has  rolled  up  against 
the  people  of  America  during  the  last  forty  years,  or 
since  the  farmers  began  to  lose  their  political  power,  is 
enough  to  startle  one  when  he  takes  courage  to  face  the 
figures  which  tell  the  story.  In  1840,  the  federal  treas- 
ury of  the  United  States  took  from  the  pockets  of  the 
people  $1.25  per  capita  ;  in  1888,  $5.57  per  capita  ;  or, 
for  a  family  of  five  in  1840,  $6.25  ;  in  1888,  $27.85  ;  an 

141 


142  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

increase    of  over   400  per   cent,    in  one  department  of 
taxation.' 

'  In  Canada,  federal  taxation  has  grown  in  volume 
125  per  cent,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  while  the 
population  has  not  increased  50  per  cent. 

Mr.  Edward  Atkinson  estimates  the  total  taxation  of 
the  Union  for  1880,  viz.,  federal,  State,  and  municipal,  at 
$14  per  capita,  or  $70  for  the  family  of  five,  and  the 
savings  of  the  people  at  $18  per  capita.  In  Canada,  the 
proportions  are  probably  about  the  same.  These  figures, 
which  we  presume  are  near  correct,  show  the  somewhat 
alarming  proportion  taxation  bears  to  actual  savings, 
and  how  absolutely  necessary  it  is  that  such  a  tax  be  put 
upon  the  right  shoulders.  According  to  Mr.  Atkinson, 
the  yearly  net  savings  of  the  people  would  be  nearly  its 
present  amount,  but  for  these  taxes.  The  incidence  of 
taxation,  in  city  as  well  as  country  municipality,  and 
between  the  classes  universally,  becomes  a  serious  one. 
Are  not  the  majority  of  our  agriculturists  groaning 
beneath  their  unequal  burdens  ? 

There  is  hardly  a  doubt  that  such  impositions  did 
much  to  assist  in  bringing  about  the  ruin  of  the  ancient 
civilizations.  And  we  are  not  without  evidences  to 
show  that  the  peasant  classes  in  those  times  were  the 
bearers  of  the  principal  part  of  a  load  which  was  seldom 
any  thing  but  crushing.  Geikie,  in  his  *'  Life  of  Christ," 
speaks  of  the  exhaustion  of  Palestine  through  the  op- 
pression of  the  Romans  "  falling  with  special  weight  on 
an  agricultural  people  like   the  Jews  "  ;  Gibbon,  in  his 

'  The  late  civil  war  should  not  be  held  accountable  for  the  weight 
of  taxes  twenty-three  years  after  its  close.  From  1789  to  1830,  with 
the  burden  of  the  expenses  of  two  wars  resting  upon  the  United 
States,  the  tax  per  capita  was  less  than  $1.75  annually.  But,  what  of 
Canada's  federal  tax  in  the  year  1889,  of  $5.66  per  capita,  without 
any  disastrous  war  on  which  to  throw  the  odium  ? 


TAXATION  IN  GENERAL.  1 43 

"Downfall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  of  the  ** intolerable 
weight  of  taxes  attached  to  the  land."  How  full  of 
warning  for  all  ages  are  the  words  of  Lactantius,  the 
Latin  rhetorician,  when  referring  in  this  particular  to  the 
fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.  "  Thanks  to  the  multitude  of 
functionaries,  there  were  more  tax-consumers  in  the 
empire  than  tax-payers,'  so  that  the  cultivator  was  ruined 
by  the  exactions  to  which  he  was  exposed.  Fields  were 
deserted,  and  lands  once  tilled  were  abandoned,  till  they 
lapsed  again  into  the  forest."  Another  writer  says  that 
"  the  treasury  was  a  robbery  which  completed  the  fall  of 
the  Roman  Empire." 

In  the  years  in  which  the  lands  of  Great  Britain  were 
passing  from  the  control  of  the  small  landholders,  the 
burden  of  taxation  rested  upon  land.  Indeed,  we  ven- 
ture the  assertion,  that  all  through  the  ages  since  the 
organization  of  society,  the  principal  state  burdens  have 
in  some  way  been  thrown  upon  the  tillers  of  the  soil 
whenever  they  could  be  so  applied.  In  our  time  a 
piteous  wail  comes  ever  and  anon  from  the  tax-ridden 
peasants  of  Italy,  France,  and  Germany.  Of  this  unfor- 
tunate class   in  Russia,  "  a  former  resident  "  writes  : 

"  The  peasants  are  financially  ruined  ;  the  worst  off 
are  dying,  literally  dying,  of  hunger,  while  others  have 
scarcely  any  thing  to  eat,  or  to  drink,  or  the  where- 
withal to  protect  their  bodies  from  the  cold,  and 
yet  their  last  cow  that  fed  the  children,  innocent  of 
mother's  milk,  is  distrained  for  taxes,  and  they  them- 
selves flogged  in  order  to  extract  from  them  the  money 

'  The  central  government  at  Washington  embraces,  in  the  Internal 
Revenue,  Post-office,  and  other  departments  under  its  control,  130,000 
officials,  and  its  numbers  are  constantly  increasing.  If  the  number  of 
officials  multiply  in  Canada  for  the  next  fifty  years  as  they  have  during 
the  last  twenty,  they  will  comprise  a  body  of  tax-consumers  not  much 
fewer  than  the  tax-payers. 


144  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

requisite  to  keep  the  administrative  machine  in  motion. 
Oh,  Father  of  Compassion  !  is  this  the  only  gateway  to 
prosperity  ?  " 

After  the  masses  of  the  ruralists  have  once  begun  to 
lose  their  relative  power,  it  has  only  been  when  the  lands 
have  become  the  property  of  a  monopoly  of  some  kind  or 
other  that  the  land-holding  classes  have  been  able  to 
dictate  terms. 

"  The  progress  of  a  community  toward  wealth  and 
power  being  in  the  direct  ratio  of  the  combination  of 
action  among  the  people  of  whom  it  is  composed  ;  it 
follows  that  the  advance  towards  both  must  be  in  the 
ratio  in  which  they  are  enabled  to  dispense  with  the 
services  of  the  politician,  the  soldier,  the  owner  of  slaves, 
and  the  trader — of  that  class  which  lives  by  virtue  of  the 
simple  act  of  appropriation.  Every  movement,  however, 
in  that  direction,  looking  necessarily  to  a  diminution  in 
the  power  of  the  latter,  they  are  all — soldier,  trader,  and 
politician — found  uniformly  banded  together  for  the 
subjugation  of  the  people  ;  as  was  seen  in  Athens  and  in 
Rome,  and  as  may  now  be  seen  in  all  the  countries  of 
Europe  and  America.  The  history  of  the  world  is  but  a 
record  of  the  attempts  of  the  few  to  tax  the  many,  and 
those  of  the  many  to  escape  taxation  ;  and  the  tendency 
of  society  to  assume  a  natural  and  stable  form  is  in  the 
precise  ratio  of  the  success  of  this  latter  class — a  success, 
however  slowly  and  tediously  accomplished,  because  of 
the  power  of  those  who  live  by  appropriation  to  come 
together  in  towns  and  cities,  while  they  who  contribute 
to  their  revenues  are  scattered  throughout  the  country."  ' 

'  This,  from  the  pen  of  Henry  C.  Carey  ("  Social  Science,"  p.  235), 
applies  to  America  to-day  even  better  than  when  it  was  written, — 
thirty  years  ago. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    SINGLE   TAX. 

We  are  brought  again  to  a  consideration  of  the  agi- 
tation now  going  on,  to  have  all  taxes  for  public  revenue 
merged  into  one  upon  land  only.  It  has  already  assumed 
proportions  which  should  cause  the  utmost  concern  to 
the  agricultural  classes.  Started  principally  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  laboring  classes,  years  ago  in  Europe,  and 
more  recently  and  perhaps  more  prominently  by  Mr. 
Henry  George  in  America,  it  is  now  growing  in  favor,  we 
have  to  admit,  with  most  city  classes.  And,  even  leading 
publicists  and  respectable  influential  journals  are  giving 
it  their  approval. 

The  single-tax  advocate,  makes  a  point  of  contending 
that  so  nearly  is  direct  taxation  now  thrown  upon  real 
estate,  that  it  would  be  but  taking  a  short  step  farther  to 
make  it  bear  the  whole.  They  are  right,  in  so  far  as 
America  is  concerned,  in  claiming  that  the  chief  burden 
of  direct  taxation  bears  upon  this  class  of  property. 

It  is  admitted  by  most  observers  that  real  estate  is  sure 
to  be  taxed,  while  personal  property  is  sure  to  escape. 
The  estimate  recently  made  of  personal  property  which 
is  escaping  taxation  in  the  State  of  New  York,  runs  up  to 
the  fine  figure  of  $2,500,000,000.  Mr.  Thomas  G.  Shear- 
man, makes  the  statement  that  between  i860  and  1880, 
the  assessed  value  of  real  estate  in  the  United  States, 
7  145 


146  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

increased  from  $4,564,000,000  to  $10,470,000,000,  or  an 
increase  of  130  per  cent.  ;  while  the  increase  in  the 
assessed  value  of  personal  property  increased  from 
$2,015,000,000  to  $2,870,000,000,  or  an  increase  of  only 
43  per  cent.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  in  these  com- 
parisons, that  personality  in  the  aggregate,  as  it  is  valued 
in  exchange,  is  augmenting  at  much  the  faster  rate. 

The  situation  appears  serious  for  our  farmers,  when  it 
is  realized  that  the  classes  which  may  be  likely  to  favor 
this  system  of  taxation  are  a  growing  majority  of  the 
voters  of  America.  Mr.  George  intimates  his  satisfaction 
on  this  score  in  his  chapter  on  "  The  American  Farmer," 
in  "  Social  Problems."  It  is  now  proposed  to  have  the 
adoption  of  this  mode  of  taxation  secured  for  all  local 
purposes  where  the  farmers  are  in  the  minority — and  so 
hem  the  farmers  in.  Hence,  it  becomes  incumbent  on 
farmers  not  only  to  give  the  question  of  taxation  their 
earnest  attention,  but  their  immediate  attention  also. 

While  Mr.  George  admits  that  the  adoption  of  his 
scheme  of  taxation  would  destroy  the  selling  value  of  the 
farmers'  land,  he  claims  *  that  it  would  increase  the  value 
of  his  improvements,  and  thus  make  his  labor  so  much 
more  remunerative,  that  he  would  be  more  than  com- 
pensated for  the  loss  of  his  land.  I  think  it  would  not 
only  take  from  him  the  selling  value  of  his  land,  but  in 
many  cases  be  the  cause  of  the  loss  of  the  improvements 
as  well.' 

'  "  Social  Problems,"  p.  304. 

''■  According  to  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson,  the  total  amount  of  taxes 
paid  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  aggregated  $700,000,000  in 
1880.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  under  the  single  tax  much  more  than 
one  half  would  have  rested  upon  the  land-holdings  of  the  country- 
districts — say  $400,000,000.  At  that  time  there  were  4,008,907 
farms.     For  these  farms  to  have  paid  the  $400,000,000,  the  average 


THE   SINGLE    TAX.  1 47 

What  are  the  single-tax  arguments  ?  They  may  be  di- 
vided into  two  principal  divisions,  namely  :  those  which 
maintain  that  all  taxes  must  finally  rest  upon  the  con- 
sumer ;  and  the  opposites,  which  maintain  that  taxes  fall 
altogether  upon  production.  The  first  may  be  repre- 
sented by  the  following  quotations  from  Mr.  Edvvard  At- 
kinson's "  Distribution  of  Products  "  :  "  It  will  be  borne  in 
mind  that,  with  few  exceptions,  all  taxes  are  distributed, 
wherever  they  may  be  first  imposed,  and  ultimately  fall 
on  all  consumers  in  almost  the  exact  ratio  of  their  con- 
sumption." (p.  103.)  "The  writer  is  of  the  profound 
conviction  that  whenever  the  subject  of  taxation  is  re- 
duced to  a  science,  taxation  on  real  estate  will  become 
the  source  of  nearly  all  taxes."  (p.  115.)  It  is  true  that 
in  these  quotations  Mr.  Atkinson  does  not  pin  his  faith 
to  the  single  tax,  or  one  upon  the  rent  value  of  land 
only  ;  but  they  serve  to  represent  the  opinions  of  many 
leading  students  and  publicists  upon  the  subject  of  the 
final  bearings  of  taxation. 

As  regards  taxes  upon  land  (or  real  estate)  and  the 
cultivator,  it  is  argued  :  Every  one  must  consume  the 
products  of  land.  Every  producer  must  go  to  the  land 
for  his  raw  material.  Consequently,  where  land  is  taxed, 
the  one  in  possession  of  it  is  enabled  to  charge  this  tax 
to  the  consumer,  who  is  obliged  to  purchase  his  products. 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Henry  George  contends  that 
"a  tax  on  land  values  does  not  add  to  prices,  and  is 
thus  paid  directly  by  the  person  on  whom  it  falls  ;  where- 
as all  taxes  upon  things  of  unfixed  quantity  increase 

would  have  had  to  pay  $100.  Since  the  unearned  increment,  or  rent 
per  farm  accruing  to  vakie  of  the  bare  land  in  the  United  States,  does 
not  reach  40  per  cent,  of  this  amount,  such  a  tax  would  certainly  have 
encroached  either  upon  the  farmer's  labor  or  his  capital. 


148  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

prices,  and  in  the  course  of  exchange  are  shifted  from 
seller  to  buyer,  increasing  as  they  go  "  '  ;  that  the  un- 
earned increment  attached  to  the  value  of  land  should 
belong  to  the  state  ;  that  it  is  becoming  impossible  for 
laborers  to  buy  farms,  and  that,  as  a  consequence,  the 
cities  are  being  overcrowded. 

Neither  the  real-estate-tax  advocate,  who  contends  that 
all  taxes  placed  upon  land  values  must  finally  rest  upon 
the  consumer  of  the  products  raised  from  this  land,  nor 
the  one  who  claims  that  no  tax  upon  land  values  can  add 
to  prices,  is,  by  any  means,  correct.  This  is  where  the 
grand  mistake  is  made. 

That  all  must  consume  the  products  of  land  is  per- 
fectly true,  but  that  all  must  consume  the  products  of 
labor  is  also  true.  Professor  Sumner's  claim,  that  the 
unearned  increment  is  upon  most  property  in  a  condition 
of  property,  is  probably  not  far  from  correct.^ 

The  gathering  of  people  about  land  increases  the  value 
of  land,  the  gathering  of  people  on  land  creates  a  demand 
for  the  products  of  labor.  One  waits  for  his  increment, 
and  the  other  takes  it  at  the  time  he  throws  his  products 
on  the  market.  The  settler  on  land  is  induced  to  accept 
a  small  immediate  return  for  the  products  of  his  land, 
looking  to  the  more  remote  benefits  to  be  derived  through 
the  increasing  value  of  his  lands  as  neighbors  surround 
him  ;  the  fabricator  of  the  materials  extracted  from  land 
receives  his  unearned  increment  at  once. 

That  the  power  of  this  increment  on  farm  land  may  be 
over-estimated,  as  compared  with  the  productiveness  of 
other  industries,  is  seen  now  by  the  relatively  impoverished 
condition  of  the  peasant  proprietors  of  Europe,  in  their 

'  "  The  Canons  of  Taxation,"  p.  2. 
*  "What  Social  Classes  Owe  to  Each  Other," 


THE   SINGLE    TAX.  I49 

efforts  to  hold  on  to  their  lands  with  devoted  attach- 
ment after  they  have  ceased  to  give  their  owners  the 
necessaries  of  a  tolerable  existence  (an  attachment,  how- 
ever, which  it  would  be  a  calamity  to  drive  from  the 
human  breast). 

Agriculturists  could  not  shift  their  taxation  burdens 
upon  other  classes  through  the  price  of  their  productions, 
simply  because  agriculture  is  not  a  monopoly ;  whereas 
all  interests,  under  the  single-tax  regime^  which  are  mo- 
nopolies and  touched  by  it,  would  have  the  same  chance 
to  shift  their  tax  upon  agriculture  and  other  helpless  in- 
dustries, as  now.  But  how  easy  would  it  be  for  great 
trusts,  such  as  a  salt  trust,  having  control  of  the  salt 
deposits  ;  or  the  oil  trust ;  or  the  coal  and  iron,  having 
control  of  the  coal  and  iron  deposits,  to  force  all  con- 
sumers of  these  commodities  to  pay  their  land  tax. 
They  would  simply  charge  to  cost  of  production,  and 
the  consumers  would  pay  it  in  the  prices  paid. 

Customs  walls  aid  these  combinations  in  accomplish- 
ing their  purposes,  but  they  are  not  necessary  for  this 
end  when  combinations  become  international  in  their 
character.  The  single-tax  advocate  contends  that  by 
putting  a  tax  upon  the  unworked  mineral  lands,  these 
lands  would  become  available  to  new  competitors  ;  but 
how  long  before  the  latter  would  be  brought  into  the 
combination,  or  be  crushed  out  by  those  with  greater 
capital  ?  The  average  farmer  of  America  to-day  is  as 
powerless  to  burden  society  in  any  shape,  in  his  control 
of  the  rent  value  of  his  land,  as  he  is  to  make  the  con- 
sumer pay  his  taxes.  In  fact,  these  conditions  move  on 
parallel  lines. 

Mr.  George  is  one  who  is  able  to  see  that  the  farmer 
cannot  throw  the  burden  of  indirect  taxation  upon  other 


I50  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

classes,  for  he  says  :  "  Let  the  working  farmer  consider 
how  the  weight  of  indirect  taxation  falls  upon  him,  with- 
out his  having  the  power  to  shift  it  off  upon  any  one 
else  ;  how  it  adds  to  the  price  of  nearly  every  thing  he 
has  to  buy,  without  adding  to  the  price  of  what  he  has  to 
sell."  • 

Why  has  the  farmer  "  not  the  power  to  shift  it  off  upon 
any  one  else  ? "  Simply  because  competition  is  so  great 
in  the  articles  he  produces  that  he  is  powerless  to  make 
his  own  prices,  and  every  pinch  drives  him  to  seek  relief 
by  increasing  production — that  is  to  say,  competition." 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  many  things  indicate 
that  land  is  going  at  the  present  time  into  the  possession 
of  large  holders,  and  that  the  small  land  proprietors  are 
being  exterminated,  there  is  not  the  slightest  probability 
of  competition  in  agriculture  diminishing  for  ages  to 
come.  However,  let  the  monopoly  period  be  near  or 
remote,  competition  under  the  single-tax  regime  would 
be  sufficiently  severe  to  exterminate  the  value  of  all 
improvements  to  the  small  holder,  either  through  their 

'  "  Social  Problems,"  p.  301. 

*  When  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson  dealt  with  the  question  of  the  rail- 
way and  the  farmer  in  their  economic  relations,  he  evidently  thought 
it  quite  possible  for  an  industry  to  be  so  situated  that  it  would  be 
powerless  to  increase  the  prices  of  its  products  for  the  purpose  of 
throwing  its  taxes  or  any  thing  else  upon  the  consumer,  for  he  says  : 
' '  The  charge  (freights)  which  can  be  put  upon  the  wheat  is  fixed  by 
the  price  at  which  East-India  wheat  can  be  sold  in  Market  Lane." 
("  Distribution  of  Products,"  p.  259.)  He  admits  in  this  that  the  farmer 
cannot  always  make  his  own  prices,  consequently  taxes  may  rest  upon 
him  when  placed  there.  But,  since  railways  may  be  in  monopoly, 
the  price  of  wheat  at  Market  Lane  may  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
amount  of  freight  they  may  take  from  the  farmer  ;  besides,  they  are 
of  the  industries  which  may  shove  their  taxes  upon  those  who  use 
them,  as  Mr.  Atkinson  elsewhere  states. 


THE   SINGLE    TAX.  151 

abandoning  their  lands  early  in  the  contest,  or  later  on 
when  they  were  obliged  to  do  so. 

Mr.  George  thinks  that  the  small  farmer  in  competing 
with  his  bonanza  rival  would  gain  an  advantage  under 
his  scheme  of  taxation  which  he  does  not  now  possess, 
as  the  small  farmer  has  the  greater  proportion  of  im- 
provements to  be  freed.  But  has  he  sufficiently  con- 
sidered the  fact  that  the  small  farmers  are  principally 
near  the  cities,  where  he  proposes  to  lay  the  burden  of 
his  tax,  because  there  the  lands  have  the  greater  rent 
value  than  in  sections  more  remote,  while  the  small 
farmer's  most  troublesome  rival  is  situated  on  lands 
which  have  a  much  less  relative  value,  and  would  bear 
but  a  small  relative  tax.'  It  is  evident  that  the  land- 
holders which  most  threaten  the  peace  of  the  typical 
farmer  of  this  country  are  a  landed  plutocracy  as  com- 
petitive agriculturists,  rather  than  a  landed  aristocracy 
withholding  land  from  use.  Little  England  years  ago, 
with  a  large  consuming  population,  and  a  great  portion 
of  her  lands  kept  out  of  use  by  an  aristocracy,  and  with 
a  high  protective  tariff,  was  enabled  to  make  agriculture 
a  monopoly.  It  was  then  a  period  when  the  burdens  of 
taxation  were  shifted  from  this  industry.  From  at  one 
time  bearing  all,  it  finally  fell  to  less  than  5  per  cent., 
where  it  remains.  Under  such  a  condition,  lands  became 
abnormally  high."  The  peculiar  position  of  England  for 
a  time  gave  to  agriculture  every  advantage  over  other 

'  If  this  be  met  by  the  claim  that  one  of  the  special  purposes  of  the 
single  tax  is  to  bring  down  the  rent  value  of  land  in  and  about  the 
cities,  as  compared  with  land  in  the  country,  the  conclusion  must  fol- 
low, from  the  single-tax  theory,  that  the  cities  will  become  the  more 
desirable  for  the  masses  to  congregate  in.  Then  what  becomes  of  the 
great  argument,  the  cheapening  of  country  lands  for  the  masses  ? 

*  See  Book  V.  Chapter  IV.  on  English  agriculture. 


152  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

industries, — a  condition  which  is  not  likely  to  occur 
again  very  soon,  certainly  not  over  the  principal  part  of 
the  globe.  In  the  States  and  Provinces  every  year  sees 
the  incomes  from  most  other  occupations  rise  in  com- 
parison to  the  value  of  farms,  and  Mr.  George  was  in 
profound  error  when  he  said  :  "  It  has  already  become 
impossible  in  our  older  States  for  a  man  starting  with 
nothing  to  become  by  his  labor  the  owner  of  a  farm." 
("Social  Problems,"  p.  314.) 

The  facts  are  that,  in  the  old  States  and  Provinces,  it 
is  becoming  all  the  time  easier  for  the  farm  laborer  to 
buy  out  the  typical  American  farmer  who  employs  him  ; 
at  the  same  time,  he  is  less  and  less  inclined  to  do  so, 
preferring,  as  he  gains  means,  to  make  his  escape  to  the 
cities,  or  to  mechanical  occupations.  At  no  period  have 
there  been  greater  opportunities  for  men  of  small  capital 
to  gain  land  than  during  the  last  twenty  years.  Yet 
never  in  America  has  the  concentration  of  population  in 
the  cities  been  greater  than  during  this  period. 

In  leaving  the  country  they  leave  land,  if  not  falling  in 
value,  certainly,  in  most  cases,  not  rising,  to  go  to  where 
land  is  rising  rapidly  in  value.  The  human  family,  for 
some  cause  or  other,  is  preferring  those  very  spots  where 
to  obtain  land  gold  enough  to  near  cover  it  must  be 
offered.  It  follows  that  if  there  is  an  evil  in  this  flocking 
to  cities,  it  comes  not  from  pressure  for  want  of  land,  but 
from  something  outside  or  anterior  to  the  land-pressure 
trouble.  Then  the  flocking  of  people  to  cities,  in  its 
relation  to  land  values,  is  a  cause,  and  not  an  effect,  as 
the  single-tax  advocate  maintains.  The  first  cause  lying 
back  of  the  flocking  of  people  to  cities,  other  causes 
than  those  ascribed  by  Mr.  George  for  the  gregarious 
tendency  of  the  time  must  be  found. 


THE   SINGLE    TAX.  1 53 

In  truth,  these  anomalous  conditions,  of  which  I  have 
just  been  writing,  seem  a  proof  that  the  land  of  the 
typical  American  farmer  is  declining  in  value  through 
the  extreme  pressure  of  taxation  of  all  sorts  which  has 
been  gradually  forced  upon  it,  to  the  ruin  of  the  farmers, 
rather  than  that  their  ruin  is  coming  through  land  rising 
in  value  by  escape  of  direct  taxation.  If  this  be  correct, 
the  application  of  Mr.  George's  cure  would  be  but  to  add 
to  the  disease. 

In  the  neighborhood  where  I  now  write  are  families- 
supported  on  incomes  from  farms  which  pay  in  direct 
taxes  over  three  times  as  much  as  corresponding  incomes 
from  other  occupations  ;  and  I  believe  conditions  similar 
to  this  are  not  rare  all  over  America.  Is  this  equality  ? 
Why  should  one  escape,  and  not  the  other  ? 

The  proprietor  farmer,  however  small  the  income 
derived  from  his  occupation,  has  heavy  land  taxes  to 
pay  ;  the  wage-earner,  who  may  have  twice  the  income, 
practically  escapes.     Is  this  equality  ? 

The  mortgaged  land  proprietor  pays  the  usurers'  taxes 
upon  his  capital,  and  the  usurer  pays  on  merely  the 
income,  and  more  frequently  escapes  altogether.  Is  this 
justice  ? 

Again  we  quote  from  Mr.  George  :  "  If  we  impose 
a  tax  upon  money  loaned,  as  has  often  been  attempted, 
the  lender  will  charge  the  tax  to  the  borrower,  and  the 
borrower  must  pay  it,  or  not  obtain  the  loan,"  ("  The 
Canons  of  Taxation,"  p.  2.) 

Not  a  few  labor  under  the  same  impression  as  Mr. 
George  upon  this  subject.  We  beg  to  suggest  that  this 
error  springs  from  a  defective  analysis  of  the  question, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  so  astute  a  reasoner  as  Mr. 
George  is  among  the  number  who  hold  to  the  theory. 


154  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

The  rate  of  interest  is  governed  by  demand  as  well  as 
supply  ;  decrease  the  number  of  those  who  borrow,  and 
demand  decreases.  Every  financial  burden  lifted  from 
the  borrower  makes  the  lender  less  necessary.  Relieve 
the  one  million  or  more  mortgaged  farms  of  the  United 
States  from  all  taxation  for  five  years  (say  $350  in  all  to 
each),  and  put  it  upon  the  loaners  of  money,  and  then 
mark  the  decrease  in  the  number  of  mortgaged  farms. 

In  shifting  these  burdens  from  the  borrower  to  the 
lender  you  increase  the  number  of  those  who  have  cap- 
ital ;  you  are  working  in  the  direction  of  breaking  up  a 
monopoly.  With  a  sugar,  a  salt,  or  an  oil  combine  it  is 
different ;  put  the  single  tax  upon  them  and  still  they 
control  the  price  of  sugar,  of  salt,  and  of  oil  ;  for  these 
articles  are  still  required,  and  these  combines  only  fur- 
nish them.  Something  further  is  necessary  in  regulating 
the  incidence  of  taxation,  a  subject  which  will  receive 
due  consideration  further  on. 

It  is  argued  by  the  supporter  of  the  single-tax  theory 
that  the  cities  would  bear  as  large  a  share  of  the  burden 
as  the  rural  districts,  with  all  taxes  levied  upon  the  rent 
value  of  land,  since  real  estate  in  our  cities  is  reaching 
an  aggregate  value  as  great  as  in  the  country.  Even  so 
it  but  proves  an  abnormal  condition,  which  we  wish  to 
remedy.  Give  to  rural  property  the  relative  value  which 
it  had  forty  years  ago,  that  is  to  say,  from  representing 
35  per  cent,  of  the  total  wealth  of  the  nation  to  60  per 
cent., — a  desirable  change, — and  where  then  would  the 
tax  fall  the  heaviest  ?  Or,  apply  the  tax  to-day  in  Can- 
ada, and  which  but  the  country  would  pay  it  ? 

Looking  upon  the  single  tax  in  this,  its  most  flattering 
aspect,  it  is  found  that  it  can  only  be  applied  to  an 
abnormal  condition,  one  which  it  would  aid  in  continu- 


THE   SINGLE    TAX.  1 55 

ing.  It  is  not  reasonable  that  the  lands  of  a  great  country 
should  have  an  aggregate  value  higher  in  cities  than 
in  its  country.  Consequently,  our  aim  should  be,  not 
merely  to  establish  a  system  which  only  promises  to  serve 
a  condition  which  must  continue  false,  in  order  that  the 
system  may  be  maintained,  but  to  look  for  something  to 
bring  about  a  truer  state. 

However,  the  procuring  of  a  system  for  laying  a  just 
direct  tax  is  a  matter  of  grave  importance.  This  neces- 
sity has  been  heedlessly  evaded  by  economists,  as  well  as 
statesmen,  under  whose  province  it  comes  for  treatment. 
Every  thoughtful  publicist  should  know  that  its  solution 
must  become  the  base  on  which  fiscal  reforms  must 
rise  !  without  which  that  many-headed  monster — indirect 
taxation — must  continue  to  hold  sway. 


CHAPTER  III. 

INDIRECT    TAXATION. 

If  farmers  have  been  slow  to  appreciate  the  injustice 
of  the  system  of  direct  taxation  under  which  they  have 
labored,  and  the  dangers  now  threatening  them  in  the 
agitations  going  on  in  the  great  influential  centres  to  in- 
crease these  evils,  it  is  hardly  a  wonder  that  the  more 
intricate  question  of  indirect  taxation  has  failed  to  receive 
the  disapproval  which  it  merits  from  them.  Yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  seems  almost  incredible  that  a  scheme  for 
collecting  public  revenue  could  be  devised  to  work  so 
much  and  so  continuous  harm  as  our  customs  and  excise 
taxes  have,  without  causing  louder  protests  from  the 
masses  ere  this  ;  that  farmers,  who  are  the  most  deeply 
victimized,  should  nurse  the  delusion  that  possibly  it 
was  benefiting  them. 

It  is  plainly  evident  that  indirect  taxation  has  been  the 
chief  working  instrument  in  a  system  of  government 
prevailing  in  America,  through  which  the  slavery  of  class 
to  class  is  being  secured.  Through  it,  the  policy  of  pro- 
tection, of  which  we  have  said  so  much  in  condemnation 
in  the  preceding  chapters,  has  been  of  easy  application. 
It  has  shown  how  it  is  possible,  by  artificial  means,  to 
entirely  change  the  course  of  national  industry.  Without 
it,  or  similar  means,  it  must  have  followed  the  course  in 
America  which  the  protectionists  of  as  far  back  as  1789 

156 


INDIRECT   TAXATION.  \%J 

decided  it  should  not  follow,  viz.  :  '*  Seek  with  success  a 
competency  from  our  cheap  and  fertile  soil."  '  Thus  a 
century  ago  the  first  blow  at  American  agriculture  was 
given. 

Practically,  America's  indirect-taxation  system  is  just  a 
century  old.  The  modest  proportions  of  the  monster's 
early  days  seem  almost  ridiculous  compared  with  its 
present  huge  development.  The  United  States  customs 
tariff  of  1789,  equivalent  to  an  advalore?fi  rate  of  8|  per 
cent,  as  a  temporary  expedient,  has  grown  to  a  vicious 
tax  of  above  40  per  cent.  Canada  is  marching  in  the 
same  direction,  and  at  a  rate  quite  as  rapid. 

To-day  the  evasions  and  perversions  of  the  customs 
laws  involve  sums  in  terms  of  money  not  far  behind  the 
total-revenue  considerations  of  a  hundred  years  ago,  to 
say  little  of  the  more  important  matter  of  the  moral 
effects  on  the  parties  immediately  in  contact  with  the 
operations  of  the  law.  It  is  well,  perhaps,  for  the  peace 
of  the  spirits  of  those  worthy  gentlemen  who  in  1789 
protested  against  an  8|-  per  cent,  tariff,  because  of  the 
temptation  it  would  offer  to  the  breaking  of  law  and 
endangering  the  morals  of  the  people,  that  they  are 
probably  ignorant  of  the  fact,  that  here  in  America, 
within  a  century,  under  the  fostering  influence  of  the 
system  then  introduced,  smuggling  has  become  a  fine 
art. 

The  history  of  our  indirect  taxation  is  an  interesting 
study.  From  it  we  learn  how  it  is  possible  for  a  people 
to  become  gradually  and  unconsciously  enslaved,  the 
power  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves  to  be  snatched 
away,  and  the  safety  of  our  civilization  brought  into 
peril.     Even  away  back  in  the  days  of  the  Romans,  im- 

'  Fisher  Ames. 


158  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

ports  on  merchandise  were  levied,  it  is  true,  for  revenue 
purposes  ;  but  a  tariff,  as  a  chief  medium  in  holding 
together  a  system  of  government — a  sort  of  despotism  by 
jugglery, — has,  strange  to  say,  its  highest  development  in 
modern  ages. 

Through  indirect  taxation,  alliances  between  selfish 
interests  having  the  command  of  wealth  and  govern- 
ments with  matchless  fondness  for  attachments  which 
insure  possession  of  abundant  money  resources,  are 
easily  formed.  Thus  combines,  monopolies,  and  other 
moneyed  interests  become  ascendant  in  government. 
Such  a  rule  brings  the  liberties  of  the  people  into  actual 
peril.  Farmers  have  much  to  fear  from  the  sway  of 
the  plutocrat.  Some  one  very  correctly  remarks  :  "  A 
plutocracy  has  its  throne  in  cities  ;  an  aristocracy  in 
the  country."  Even  an  aristocracy  is  in  sympathy  with 
the  great  rural  classes.  Moreover,  with  the  country 
shorn  of  its  political  power,  democracy  is  a  delusion.  It 
follows,  that  the  farmers,  of  all  others,  are  imperilled  by 
a  revenue  system  which  secures  the  alliance  of  wealth 
and  government.     But  more  of  this  elsewhere. 

The  first  great  canon  of  taxation  laid  down  by  all 
eminent  economists  is  to  the  effect  that  the  volume  of 
taxation  be  rigidly  limited  to  the  actual  necessities  of 
the  state.  The  violation  in  America  of  this  first  rule  is 
to  be  laid  principally  to  the  door  of  our  system  of  in- 
direct taxation.  Politicians  have  learned  that  by  this 
system  "  the  fowl  is  plucked  without  crying  out."  Tax- 
ation always  becomes  so  adjusted  as  to  bear  upon  those 
least  likely  to  rebel  against  it.  That  the  farmers  are  they 
of  America  who  have  never  yet  united  their  forces  to 
resist  this  system  of  oppression  is  patent  to  all  who  have 
given  the  subject  any  attention. 


INDIA' EC  r    TAXATION.  I  59 

We  speak  advisedly  when  we  say — it  cannot  be  uttered 
too  often — that  ''indirect  taxation  is  a  cowardly,  mean, 
unjust  method  of  drawing  from  the  small  incomes  of 
the  people  at  large,  vast  aggregate  amounts,  which,  if 
proportionately  borne  by  the  rich,  would  result  in  their 
immediate  rebellion."  This  brings  us  to  consider  the 
fact  that  through  our  indirect  tax  we  are  continually  in- 
creasing the  violation  of  another  most  important  canon 
of  taxation — to  wit,  the  levying  of  taxation  in  just 
proportion  between  rich  and  poor. 

Adam  Smith's  rule  as  to  equality  was,  that  "the  sub- 
jects of  every  state  ought  to  contribute  toward  the 
support  of  the  government  as  nearly  as  possible  in  pro- 
portion to  the  revenue  which  they  respectively  enjoy 
under  the  protection  of  the  state."  This  canon  must 
stand  as  the  citadel  of  justice  in  schemes  for  obtaining 
public  revenue  ;  for  the  power  of  private  revenue  in 
society  increases  to  the  individual  possessing  it,  as  reve- 
nue is  augmented  from  that  of  yielding  what  may  barely 
suffice  for  existence  to  that  of  affluence  and  luxury. 

Placing  the  bearings  of  indirect  taxation  on  consump- 
tion at  say  15  per  cent.,  we  will  have  the  family  whose 
total  income  is  $240,  with  the  bare  necessities  of  exist- 
ence requiring  an  outlay  of  $200  before  indirect  taxes 
are  paid,  contributing  $30  for  revenue,  or  12.5  per  cent, 
of  total  income  ;  while,  -on  the  other  hand,  the  family 
whose  income  is  $10,000,  living  in  comparative  luxury 
on  an  outlay  of  $5,000,  will  be  paying  $750  in  taxes,  or 
only  7 1  per  cent,  on  total  income.  One  will  be  paying 
75  per  cent,  of  possible  savings — the  true  consideration 
in  estimating  the  incidence  of  taxation  ;  the  other,  less 
than  8  per  cent.  The  million-dollar  income  contributes 
I  to   1 1  per  cent,  for  revenue,  and  the  so-called  poor 


l6o  AMERICAN  FARMS, 

man  his  lo  to  20  per  cent.  How  unjust  !  the  state 
stimulating  the  growth  of  inequality  by  treatment  totally 
unscientific  as  well  as  inhumane.' 

To  those  who  say  that  our  indirect  taxes  are  so  regu- 
lated as  to  bear  heaviest  on  articles  consumed  by  the 
rich,  we  reply  :  A  study  of  our  tariff  laws,  our  trade 
and  navigation  returns,  and  the  opinions  of  those  having 
practical  information  on  the  subject  does  not  warrant 
such  a  conclusion.  The  writer's  many  years  of  constant 
observation  of  the  workings  of  America's  customs  laws, 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  many  advantages  taken  and  con- 
cessions made,  permit  him  to  make  no  such  deduction 
in  behalf  of  the  wisdom  and  humanity  of  these  laws. 
"  Books,  carpets,  dishes,  "  and  the  like,  are  a  necessity  of 
civilized  life,  and  "  surely  "  the  so-called  "  poor  men  "  of 
our  farmers  who  should  be  obliged  to  "  do  without  these  " 
are  few  ;  though  there  are  politicians  who  think  other- 
wise." 

Another  important  canon  of  taxation  is  to  the  effect 
that  a  tax  should  take  as  little  as  possible  beyond  the 
sum  that  reaches  the  exchequer.  Our  system  of  indirect 
taxation  is  most  expensive,  for  it  exacts  large  sums  from 
the  payer,  through  the  profits  charged  by  the  merchant 
who  advances  the  tax. 

Mr.  Henry  C.  Carey  was  an  uncompromising  opponent 
of  free  trade  and  decidedly  in  favor  of  land  taxes,  but  he 
has  left  on  record  the  result  of  a  vast  amount  of  research, 

'  One  hundred  thousand  capitalists  in  the  United  States  are  enabled 
to  save  more  after  taxes  are  paid  than  fifteen  millions  of  its  people, 
in  whom  are  included  the  farmers,  the  greatest  actual  wealth  pro- 
ducers of  the  commonwealth. 

*  The  pauper  is  not  treated  as  a  subject  for  consideration  in  the 
incidence  of  taxation,  as  he  is  supported  by  the  state  in  any  case. 


INDIRECT    TAXATION.  l6l 

accompanied  by  his  own  opinions,  all  in  most  pronounced 
opposition  to  indirect  taxation.  He  tells  of  how  at  one 
time,  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  Empire,  "  duties  on  im- 
ports and  exports,  on  the  passage  of  country  produce 
into  towns  and  cities,  on  the  passage  of  rivers,  on  sales 
by  auction,  on  almost  every  kind  of  property  in  motion, 
mark  the  later  portion  of  the  history  of  the  republic,  and 
the  whole  of  that  of  the  empire.  Slaves  could  not  change 
masters,  nor  could  property  change  hands  by  legacy  or 
donation,  without  payment  of  a  tax.  The  raising  of 
cattle  and  the  consumption  of  salt  were  privileges  to  be 
paid  for  to  the  state.  The  consumer  of  water,  and  he 
who  needed  to  avoid  it,  alike  were  taxed.  Nothing  was 
so  trivial  in  appearance  as  to  warrant  its  escape  from 
the  hands  of  the  tax-gatherer,  provided  only  that  it 
promised  to  add  to  a  revenue  required  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  system  under  which  labor  and  land  declined 
in  value  and  slavery  took  the  place  of  freedom." 

Of  Turkey  he  said  :  "  Taxation  there  has  no  reference 
whatever  to  the  value  of  the  land,  but  only  to  the  ability 
of  the  collector  and  his  agents  to  squeeze  from  its  culti- 
vator the  largest  share  of  its  products." 

Thus  also  of  the  United  States  :  "  The  government  of 
the  United  States  has,  throughout  most  of  its  existence, 
been  misled  by  the  erroneous  idea  that  indirect  taxation 
was  the  legitimate  mode  of  raising  the  public  revenue. 
.  .  .  What  has  been  the  effect  of  this  policy  is  seen  in 
the  facts  already  stated  in  relation  to  the  comparative 
prices  of  agricultural  products  they  need  to  sell  and  those 
metallic  ones  they  require  to  purchase — the  experience 
of  forty  years  having  exhibited  a  steady  and  regular 
increase  in  the  quantity  of  wheat,  flour,  rice,  tobacco, 
and  cotton  required  to  be  given  in  exchange  for  smaller 


l62  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

quantities  of  lead,  tin,  iron,  copper,  gold,  and  silver. 
That  being  the  road  towards  barbarism,  and  the  course 
in  that  direction  having  been  continued  with  remarkable 
pertinacity,  we  are  thus  supplied  with  an  explanation  of 
the  facts,  that  the  power  of  trade  grows  steadily  while 
that  of  commerce  declines,  and  that  in  the  land  in  which 
all  men  were  once  declared  to  be  free  and  equal  '  free 
society '  is  now  declared  to  have  proved  'a  failure.'"' 
And  still  the  difficulty  becomes  greater.  More  decided 
protection  has  only  augmented  the  forces  of  centraliza- 
tion within  the  national  bounds,  but  indirect  taxation 
remains  the  same  evil. 

'  "  Social  Science,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  igi. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DIRECT   TAXATION. 

Mr.  Thomas  G.  Shearman,  who  is  a  student  of  this 
subject,  claims  that  for  the  United  States,  by  the  substi- 
tution of  direct  for  indirect  taxation,  $650,000,000,  or 
nearly  one  half  the  present  burden,  might  be  saved  the 
people  ;  the  total  aggregate  weight  being  $1,350,000,000, 
made  up  of  the  "  share  to  government,  profits  on  levy  by 
merchants,  and  the  action  of  the  tariff  in  increasing  the 
cost  of  domestic  manufactures." 

The  writer's  estimate  is  as  follows  :  United  States 
customs  and  excise  taxes  amount  to  about  $335,000,000 
a  year  ;  domestic  manufactures,  which  now  amount  to 
about  $6,000,000,000,  are  increased  in  price  at  least  5 
per  cent,  (one  quarter  the  average  protection),  which 
gives  $300,000,000.  By  adding  together  the  taxes  paid 
into  the  treasury  and  that  paid  the  manufacturers,  we 
have  $635,000,000,  on  which  the  jobbers  and  retailers 
get  at  least  20  per  cent.,  or  an  aggregate  amount  of 
$137,000,000.  Thus  we  have  $1,132,000,000,  representing 
the  indirect  taxes  upon  the  people  of  the  United  States  ; 
a  yearly  tax  equivalent  to  $12.86  per  capita,  or  $64.30 
for  the  family  of  five.  If  this  is  the  approximate  sum  of 
the  indirect  taxes  bearing  upon  the  average  farmers  of 
America,  it  is  quite  enough  to  account  for  the  decline  of 
American  agriculture. 

163 


164  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

In  Canada  the  federal  treasury  gets  about  $28,000,000 
at  the  present  time  through  indirect  taxation  ;  domestic 
manufactures,  which  now  amount  to  above  $400,000,000,' 
are  increased  on  the  average  not  less  than  5  per  cent., 
making  another  burden  on  the  consumer  of  at  least 
$20,000,000.  On  these  two  amounts  the  merchants, 
jobbers,  and  retailers  who  collect  them  get  at  least 
another  20  per  cent.,  or  $5,760,000,  making  in  all  the 
fine  sum  of  $57,600,000,  or  about  $57  for  the  average 
family. 

An  average  direct  tax  of  $25  against  the  million  or 
more  incomes  in  Canada  would  secure  a  revenue  of  $25,- 
000,000.  Would  this  not  be  a  change  calculated  to 
lighten  the  load  carried  by  many  a  tax-burdened  citizen  ? 
An  annual  direct  tax  of  $15  upon  each  of  the  upwards 
of  500,000  farm  holdings  in  Canada  would  yield  a 
revenue  greater  than  the  sum  total  of  its  customs  col- 
lections of  twenty  years  ago  ($8,578,000  in  1868).  This 
even  would  be  too  liberal  a  contribution  to  the  federal 
treasury  from  the  farmers  of  Canada  ;  a  small  one,  how- 
ever, compared  with  that  now  extracted  from  them. 
The  cities  have  a  burden  to  bear,  and  personal  property 
has  no  right  to  escape.  Death,  probate,  legacy,  or 
succession  duties,  to  a  limited  extent,  could  also  be 
utilized  to  regulate  inequality. 

But,  on  whatever  taxation  be  laid,  it  should  rest  on 
the  respective  payers,  as  strictly  as  possible,  in  propor- 
tion to  income,  and  it  should,  after  a  certain  limit,  be 
progressive.  This  is  really  the  only  scientific  base  on 
which  to  found  an  equitable  fiscal  structure  ;  one  at  the 
same  time  in  perfect  accord  with  the  highest  principles 
of  ethics.     God  never    intended  science  to  divide   the 

'  Estimated  $635,000,000  for  1889. 


DIRECT    TAXATION.  165 

brotherhood  of  men  by  an  impassable  gulf,  growing 
wider  and  ever  wider.  Its  mission  is  rather  to  bring  all 
this  seeming  conflict  of  interests  into  harmony. 

Properly  adjust  a  progressive  tax  on  property  and 
mammoth  incomes,  and  you  give  relief  to  the  one  to 
whom  the  labor  for  the  gratification  of  his  necessities  is  a 
real  burden  of  itself.  Levy  this  progressive  tax  with 
all  the  weight  it  should  have  on  combines,  trusts,  and 
monopolies,  and  you  give  back  to  society  an  increment 
which  is  really  unearned.  Tax  the  bonanza  farmer  in 
this  progressive  way,  relieve  the  small  proprietor,  and 
competition  would  be  relieved  of  a  terror,  the  result  of 
an  abnormal  condition. 

Small  farmers  could  well  demand  this — without  which 
there  appears  no  salvation  for  them, — a  right  in  conform- 
ity with  science  and  the  common  weal ;  but  not  as 
suppliants  for  the  crumbs  of  state  charity  ;  not  as  the 
millions  of  the  peasantry  of  France  and  Germany,  who 
are  now  receiving  presumed  favors  from  the  state  after 
being  destroyed  as  actual  forces  in  the  national  life. 

Allow  the  small  farmers  of  the  world,  before  they 
have  lost  courage  and  become  depraved,  to  come  under 
the  influence  of  these  Avise  changes  as  to  taxation  ;  to 
take  a  place  as  the  ideal  typical  farmers  of  America, 
and  their  power  and  usefulness  as  tax  producers  would 
prove  them  no  subjects  for  the  exercise  of  charity,  but 
the  equal  of  any  of  their  contemporaries  in  bearing 
the  burdens  of  the  state.  It  is  an  abnormal  condition 
which  makes  the  farmer  a  subject  of  charity. 

While  these  are  my  views  on  the  one  hand,  I  maintain 
on  the  other  that  it  would  be  harmful  as  well  as  un- 
scientific political  economy  to  prohibit  the  aggregation 
of  capital  in  industry.     Deal  with  these  matters  by  way 


1 66  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

of  taxation,  as  the  great  economist,  Adam  Smith,  sug- 
gested over  one  hundred  years  ago.  Allow  capital 
freedom  to  work — the  state  securing  its  share  ;  permit  no 
public  favors,  and  the  harm  from  it  will  be  brought  into 
small  proportions.  If  it  becomes  a  monopoly,  and  is  thus 
empowered  to  shift  its  burdens  on  the  consumers  of  its 
products,  it  is  then  robbing  the  citizens  of  the  state,  and 
taxes  should  be  put  upon  it  until  monopoly  is  broken. 
If  the  state  be  a  factor  in  the  accumulation  of  incomes, 
how  much  more  is  it  true  of  the  incomes  which 
roll  up  into  the  millions,  than  of  those  which  barely 
suffice  for  the  possessor's  existence  ?  How  much  more 
then  should  the  state  claim  from  the  former  than  from  the 
latter  ?  These  views  are  in  accord  with  those  of  many 
thoughtful  students  of  the  present  day,  while  a  few 
practical  statesmen  have  dared  to  utter  similar  ones. 

"  The  rich  man,  with  a  surplus  income,  should  con- 
tribute more  proportionately  out  of  that  income,  than 
the  poor  man  out  of  that  poverty  which  leaves  him  no 
more  than  a  bare  subsistence."  '  J.  B.  Say,  long  ago, 
taught  that  ''  taxation  is  a  sacrifice  to  the  preservation  of 
society  and  social  organization,  which  ought  not  to  be 
purchased  by  the  destruction  of  individuals  "  ;  that  taxa- 
tion "  cannot  be  equitable  unless  its  ratio  is  progressive." " 

An  excellent  precedent  for  a  progressive  tax  is  given 
in  the  eminently  successful  fiscal  legislation  of  Solon,  in 
the  little  community  of  Attica.  The  weight  of  taxation 
was  then  laid  upon  the  largest  property-holders — those 
having  the  highest  political  privileges  ;  the  next  class 
was  relieved  to  the  extent  of  \  ;  the  next  f,  and  so  on, 
until  those  were  reached  who  were  ineligible  for  office — 

'  Hon.  Edward  Blake,  speech  at  Toronto,  1886. 
'•'  "  Political  Economy,"  p.  459. 


DIRECT    TAXATION.  1 67 

these  were  relieved  altogether.  It  is  true  that  Solon's  tax 
was  levied  principally  on  land,  but  the  largest  part  of  the 
people  were  at  that  time  landholders,  and  it  became  the 
main  concern  to  make  taxation  equitable  between  the 
small  and  the  large  land  proprietors,  and  this  Solon's 
policy  accomplished  in  a  high  degree.  In  it  was  ex- 
hibited the  "  most  equitable  division  of  the  responsibili- 
ties of  citizenship  that  the  world  has  ever  seen."  And 
through  it  a  condition  of  society  was  established  which 
"  affected  even  succeeding  generations  most  beneficially." 
Legislation  which  followed  finally  overthrew  all  this,  and 
the  masses  became  re-enslaved. 

Mr.  R.  G.  Haywood  read  an  excellent  paper  before 
the  Social  Science  Congress  at  Huddersfield,  England, 
in  1883,  on  "  How  to  Apply  Direct  Taxation."  For 
England  he  suggested  the  following  distribution  : 

— Lands  and  Tenements  at  4^^.  in  the  pound 

income 37.4  <^ 

— Railways,  Canals,  Mines,    Minerals,  at  4^.  in 

the  pound  income 10.8  " 

— Legacy    Duty 2.8  " 

Succession  Duty  at  \s.  in  the  pound 15.0  " 

— House   Tax    (warehouses,    factories,   works, 

offices,  shops,  etc.) 20.0  " 

— Miscellaneous 14.0  " 


loo.o  5^ 


In  amplifying  this  Mr.  Haywood  said  :  "  The  forego- 
ing estimate  is  intended  to  show  not  only  that  there  are 
abundant  sources  from  which  ample  income  may  be 
drawn,  but  which  are  now  unjustly  allowed  to  escape 
their  legal  liability.     Moreover,  it  is  plain  that  a  suffi- 


1 68  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

cient  revenue  may  thus  be  obtained  by  a  direct  system 
in  the  simplest  manner  at  less  cost  of  collection,  and 
with  no  interference  with  the  operations  of  trade. 

"  The  present  house  duty  affords  the  best  foundation 
on  which  to  build  a  system  of  direct  taxation,  extending 
to  all  interests  beyond  the  owners  of  land.  Every  man 
resides  in  a  house  of  some  kind.  Household  suffrage  is 
now  the  basis  of  our  parliamentary  franchise,  and  this 
fact  will  go  far  to  reconcile  even  the  lower  classes  to  a 
revenue  system  constructed  upon  it.  Adam  Smith 
observes  that  '  a  proportional  house  tax  might  perhaps 
produce  a  more  considerable  revenue  than  any  that  has 
been  drawn  from  it  in  any  part  of  Europe.'  Again  he 
says  :  *  A  tax  put  upon  house  rents  would  in  general 
fall  heaviest  upon  the  rich,  and  in  this  sort  of  inequality 
there  would  not  be  any  thing  unreasonable.' 

"  It  is  not  very  unreasonable  that  the  rich  should  con- 
tribute to  the  public  expense,  not  only  in  proportion  to 
their  revenue,  but  something  more  than  that  proportion. 
To  this,  however,  as  well  as  to  any  other  proposal  whatever, 
a  hundred  objections  will  be  raised.  But  a  graduated  tax, 
beginning  with  the  exemption  of  the  very  poorest  class 
having  a  bare  subsistence,  and  rising  in  a  scale  adjusted 
not  according  to  rent  alone,  but  taking  also  into  ac- 
count the  occupation,  profession,  and  position  in  rank, 
might,  and  doubtless  would,  bring  in  a  more  elastic  and 
productive  revenue  than  our  present  income  tax." 

The  more  these  matters  are  studied,  the  clearer  it  will 
appear  that  the  matter  of  adjusting  a  progressive  tax, 
is  not  a  more  insurmountable  difficulty  than  that  of 
adjusting  a  single  tax  by  taking  the  unearned  incre- 
ment of  land.  And,  whether  with  or  without  the  single- 
tax    system,    all   lands    held    for    speculative    purposes 


DIRECT     TAXA  TION.  1 69 

should  be  taxed  at  their  highest  rate  up  to  their  full 
market  value,  both  for  federal  and  local  revenue.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  bonanza  farms. 

With  direct  taxation,  however  levied,  a  stop  may  be 
put  to  lavish  and  unnecessary  public  expenditures.  Lord 
Derby's  remark  forcibly  expressed  its  immense  advan- 
tages when  he  said  :  "  By  making  the  whole  revenue 
depend  upon  direct  taxation,  the  pressure  would  be  so 
odious  that  war  would  be  avoided,  because  no  party 
would  incur  the  odium  of  carrying  it  on."  The  tax- 
payer will  have  a  direct  interest  in  holding  a  govern- 
ment to  strict  account  for  exactions  which  are  made 
directly  against  him,  for  the  reason  that  he  directly 
feels  the  severity  of  the  burden  imposed.  Under  such 
circumstances  it  is  only  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he 
will  weigh  well  the  question  of  his  ability  to  bear  the 
imposition  before  he  sanctions  expenditures  which  may 
be  avoided.  This  certainly  is  another  weighty  argument 
in  favor  of  direct  taxation.  With  direct  taxation  a  check 
would  be  immediately  put  to  the  growing  power  of  Par- 
liaments. With  it  properly  laid,  and  with  the  results 
which  would  necessarily  follow,  the  American  farmer 
would  again  take  his  place  in  our  legislative  chambers. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  REAL  STRENGTH  OF  AN  EVIL  SYSTEM  OF 
TAXATION. 

In  early  times  despotism  gained  its  power  by  physical 
force.  It  is  claimed,  with  good  reason,  that,  in  most  in- 
stances of  to-day,  governments  gain  ascendancy,  not  only 
over  their  opponents  but  over  the  people  at  large,  by 
cunning.  It  is  conspicuously  apparent  to  the  student 
of  these  subjects  that,  by  this  means,  they  are  continually 
increasing  their  command  of  the  purses  of  the  people  of 
America,  and  making  stronger  their  alliances  with  the 
wealthy  classes.  Surely,  with  such  an  advantage  as  this, 
they  have  the  power  of  position.  Will  they  yield  it  up 
without  a  desperate  struggle  ?     We  think  they  will  not. 

Professor  Sumner  very  correctly  remarks  :  "  It  is  the 
Forgotten  Man  who  is  threatened  by  every  extension  of 
the  paternal  system  of  government."  '  "  Every  new  sub- 
ject to  be  legislated  upon  strengthens  the  influence  and 
power  of  government,  makes  the  politician  more  import- 
ant in  his  own  eyes,  as  well  as  in  the  eyes  of  others." 
"  All  governments  like  to  interfere  ;  it  elevates  their 
position  to  make  out  that  they  can  cure  the  evils  of  man- 
kind."^ As  the  subjects  seeking  legislative  benefits  are 
continually  increasing,  these  potent  props  to  the  paternal 

'  "  What  the  Social  Classes  Owe  to  Each  Other,"  p.  150. 

*  Walter  Bagehot,  in  "  Economic  Studies." 

170 


AN  EVIL   SYSTEM  OF  TAXATION.  171 

system  constantly  augment  its  power  ;  while  "  expectant 
ones  "  who  hope,  sooner  or  later,  to  have  a  share  in 
"  manipulating  the  state  control," — even  down  to  the  day 
laborer, — are  ever  putting  themselves  in  line  to  give  it 
support.  Do  away  with  indirect  taxation,  and  place  direct 
taxation  upon  a  proper  basis,  and  the  paternal  govern- 
ment of  a  civilized  country  would  be  shorn  of  its  greatest 
power,  and  the  leaders  of  its  forces  know  this  only  too 
well.  The  twenty  or  more  millionaires  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  are  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  idea  that 
wealth  and  government  are  inseparable  ;  they  know  just 
how  specially  serviceable  government  may  be  to  wealth, 
and  how  specially  serviceable  wealth  may  be  to  govern- 
ment, and  they,  like  their  fellows  in  every  department  of 
the  political  machine,  govern  themselves  accordingly. 
The  result  is  that  against  reform  in  our  system  of  taxa- 
tion and  the  evils  it  occasions  there  is  a  well  consoli- 
dated force,  commanded  by  well-trained,  experienced, 
and  self-interested  officers. 

But  it  is  not  only  this  regular  army  of  active  forces 
which  opposes  this  reform,  there  is  also  a  force  of  nega- 
tives, more  or  less  irregular,  who  are  most  effective 
impediments  to  wholesome  efforts  to  effect  this  purpose. 
They  object  to  the  policies  of  the  actives,  but  they 
formulate  nothing  to  stimulate  hope  in  the  breasts  of 
those  who  long  for  remedial  action.  Worthless  as  are 
their  objections  to  action  on  the  lines  of  their  professions, 
they  are  really  grave  stumbling-blocks  to  the  many  who 
may  desire  a  better  state  of  things,  for  their  ever  ready 
"  wet  blanket "  is  a  constant  check  to  weak-hearted 
though  honest  reformers.'     Yet  reform  is  imperative. 

'  One  of  the  most  effective  objections  to  radical  changes  in  fiscal 
policies  made  by  its  assumed  friends,  is  that  the  necessity  for  large 


1/2  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

However  ponderous  and  expensive  the  machinery  of 
the  state  may  be,  it  draws  its  support  solely  from  the 
substance  of  the  people.  "  Woe  to  the  people  who  are 
incapable  of  limiting  the  sphere  of  the  action  of  the 
state.  Liberty,  private  activity,  riches,  well-being,  inde- 
pendence, dignity  depend  upon  this."  ' 

Have  the  farmers  and  the  thoughtful  people  of  America 
lost  that  power  which  alone  can  overcome  these  condi- 
tions, the  continued  triumphing  of  which  must  finally 
result  in  the  ruin  of  all  ? 

revenues  precludes  the  possibility  of  making  these  changes.  The 
reasoning  is  absurd :  first,  because  revenue  will  always  be  required, 
and,  under  our  present  system,  whatever  party  is  in  power,  every  day 
is  making  the  conditions  worse  ;  second,  if  it  be  admitted  that  a 
change  would  be  desirable  for  the  collection  of  a  small  revenue,  it  is 
still  more  desirable  for  the  collection  of  a  large  one.  Under  our 
system  of  taxation,  the  volume  is  increased  at  an  arithmetical  ratio, 
while  the  evils  may  be  said  to  increase  at  a  geometrical  ratio. 
'  Frederic  Bastiat. 


BOOK   VI. 

POLITICS. 

The  conditions  of  prosperity  with  every  people  are  involved  in  the 
extent  to  which  they  bring  their  purest  and  wisest  minds  into  positions 
of  honor  and  control.  No  nation,  however  strong  ;  no  nation,  how- 
ever vigorous,  could  long  preserve  its  relative  prestige  and  prosperity 
in  the  world,  if  it  should  disregard  these  conditions. — Dorman  B. 
Eaton. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   FARMER    LOSING   HIS   POLITICAL   POWER. 

That  the  farmer  of  America  is  rapidly  losing  his 
chances  to  have  a  controlling  influence  in  the  political 
concerns  of  his  country  is  patent  to  all  who  will  give  the 
subject  any  consideration.  In  the  United  States,  forty 
years  ago,  the  farmers  composed  70  per  cent,  of  the 
industrial  population.  And  even  twenty  years  ago 
the  cattle  farmers  and  agriculturists  outnumbered  all 
ottiers.  To-day  they  are  in  the  minority.  In  Canada  the 
agriculturist  vote  is  still  in  the  majority  ;  but  even  in 
this  new  country  we  fear  the  farmer  is  losing  a  lingering 
chance  to  save  his  class  from  political  annihilation.  In 
proportion  to  numbers  and  to  capital  invested  in  agri- 
culture and  cattle  farming,  compared  with  numbers  and 
amounts  invested  by  other  classes,  there  should  be  over 
one  hundred  farmers  representing  their  various  con- 
stituencies, sitting  in  the  Dominion  Parliament,  and 
looking  after  the  interests  of  the  agriculturists.  Instead 
of  that  number,  not  more  than  thirty-nine  can  in  any  way 
be  classed  as  representing  the  farmers.  Of  the  whole 
number  of  the  last  United  States  House  of  Representa- 
tives, only  seventeen  were  farmers,  or  i  to  every  470,000 
of  that  occupation.  Even  in  1870  twenty-six  farmers,  or 
I  to  every  228,000  of  their  number,  had  a  seat  in  the 
House.     In   our  State   and   Provincial  Legislatures,  the 

175 


1/6  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

representatives  from  other  classes  outnumber  the  farmers 
by  three  to  one.  These  facts  prove  a  decreasing  power 
in  the  farmers  in  a  matter  fraught  with  vital  importance 
to  them. 

Educated  men  of  the  professions  are  necessary  for 
certain  positions  in  Parliament.  But  the  majority  of  our 
public  men  are  inclined  to  encourage  large  expenditures, 
elaborate  formulas,  numberless  acts,  and  to  the  securing 
of  vast  powers  to  Parliaments — much  of  all  which  is 
decidedly  antagonistic  to  the  true  interests  of  the  people. 
After  prorogations,  they  boast  of  their  labors,  and  the 
number  of  their  acts  passed,  many  of  which  will,  in  the 
public  interest,  require  repealing.  In  Mr.  Herbert 
Spencer's  "  Sins  of  Legislators,"  he  informs  us  that  in 
May,  1873,  a  Mr.  Jason,  vice-president  of  one  of  the  law 
societies  of  England,  publicly  stated  that  from  the  time 
of  Henry  HI.  to  1872,  there  had  been  passed  through 
Parliament,  in  England  18,110  public  acts,  of  which  four 
fifths  had  been  wholly  or  partially  repealed.  We  are  in- 
clined to  think,  that  at  no  time  have  politicians  been 
more  anxious  to  magnify  the  necessity  for  much  legisla- 
tion than  at  the  present  day,  and  in  no  portion  of  the 
globe  more  than  in  some  of  our  own  local  as  well  as  our 
federal  Legislatures. 

In  186 1,  the  farmers  of  Nova  Scotia  composed  61  per 
cent,  of  the  industrial  population  of  the  province  ;  in 
1 881,  43  per  cent.  This  constant  relative  decline  in  the 
numbers  of  the  agricultural  class,  as  compared  with 
others,  shows  most  plainly  that  however  prone  the 
farmer  may  be  at  the  present  to  throw  away  his  chances, 
the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the  power  which  he 
might  exercise  to-day  will  be  gone,  perhaps  never  to 
return. 


THE  FARMER  LOSING  HIS  POLITICAL  PO  WER.      1 77 

Few,  we  think,  will  deny  that  even  on  great  questions 
the  farmer  usually  supports  the  old  party,  but  he  does  it 
from  far  higher  motives  than  those  which  govern  the  aver- 
age voter.  But  the  consequences  are  that  the  politician 
thinks  it  unnecessary  to  give  himself  any  concern  as  to  far- 
mers' rights  or  his  support.  And,  whatever  has  been 
said  to  the  contrary,  the  average  farmer  of  America  is,  I 
believe,  above  bribes.  He,  the  farmer,  with  his  industry, 
his  self-reliance,  is  really  the  nation-builder  ;  but  in  poli- 
tics his  vote  counts  but  one,  and  the  politician  has  faith 
enough  in  his  integrity  to  know  for  whom  it  will  be  cast. 
With  all  that  must  be  done  to  suit  the  exigencies  of  the 
times,  the  demands  for  benefactions,  protections,  pre- 
ventions, and  encouragements,  and  which  the  State  can 
only  satisfy  by  large  demands  upon  the  farmer  and  his 
like,  who  have  produced  and  saved, — the  farmer  is  what 
Professor  Sumner  calls  him,  "The  Forgotten  Man." 

Even  in  many  constituencies  where  agriculture  largely 
predominates  either  a  coal,  a  coal-oil,  a  cotton-seed,  a 
railroad,  a  sugar-refining,  or  a  cotton-manufacturing  mo- 
nopoly marches  its  forces  to  the  polls,  "  an  organized 
army."  The  agricultural  vote  is,  so  far  as  self-interest  is 
concerned,  practically  a  fruitless  effort.  When  our  poll- 
ing days  arrive,  our  agriculturists  gather  around  the 
booths  and  promptly  record  their  votes.  So  long  as 
only  farmers  vote,  the  ward-workers  have  little  trouble 
to  decide  the  state  of  the  poll,  carefully  guarded  as  the 
secrets  of  the  poll  may  be.  They  know  that  their  neigh- 
bors are  influenced  in  their  choice  of  representatives,  in 
the  main,  by  their  feelings  in  reference  to  the  antecedents 
of  the  party  whose  name  the  candidate  bears.  But  the 
effect  on  the  ballot-box  by  the  squad  of  electors  who 
are  to  be  marched  down  from  the  factories  near  by,  will 


178  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

depend  altogether  upon  the  numbers  who  turn  out.  An- 
tecedents do  not  count  with  these.  At  such  important 
times  a  half-holiday  is  usually  granted.  "  Election  day  !  " 
"  Hurrah  for  Edgar  Thompson  !  "  "  Hurrah  for  the  age 
of  steel !  "  This  great  army  of  toilers  march  and  record 
their  votes  in  support  of  the  majestic  power  of  capital. 
Their  numbers  decide  the  state  of  the  poll  before  the 
ballot  closes.  The  friends  of  monopoly  gather  in  crowds 
around  the  booths,  the  opponents  disappear,  capital 
wins  !  "  Hurrah  for  the  hammer  !  "  "  Hurrah  for 
patriotism  and  progress  !  "  A  daring  sceptic  may  have 
the  hardihood  to  wait  the  sheriff's  decision,  and  upon 
this  outburst  he  very  well  suggests  that  it  would  be 
better  if  they  could  hurrah  for  "  liberty,  patriotism,  and 
progress."  He  would  be  told  that  "the  man  who  cries 
'liberty'  is  an  enemy  to  his  country."  The  daring  op- 
ponent might  well  retort  that,  "  at  the  back  of  all  this, 
there  is  a  despotism  which  will  one  day  crush  us  all.'' 
He  would  be  told  '-  "  If  you  don't  like  your  country,  you 
had  better  get  out."  "  Hurrah  for  the  age  of  steel  !  " 
"  There  will  be  a  grand  dinner  and  an  illumination 
at  the  factory  !  "  "  Hurrah  for  Mammon  &  Co  !  " 
Farmers  of  America  !  You  have  against  you  an  or- 
ganized enemy  that  requires  a  solid  union  of  your  whole 
strength  to  combat,  or  you  are  most  surely  undone  ! 

Though  far  from  believing  in  unbridled  liberalism,  or 
rather  the  extreme  of  egoism,  I  think  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  is  correct  in  his  claim 
that  one  of  the  most  alarming  tendencies  of  our  time  is 
the  encroaching  power  of  Parliaments,  and  the  willing- 
ness with  which  the  people  are  surrendering  one  pre- 
rogative after  another  to  the  control  of  legislators.  By 
such  yielding  up  of  the  management  of  concerns,  which 


THE  FARMER  LOSING  HIS  POLITICAL  PO  WER.      I  79 

were  once  considered  best  under  the  control  of  individ- 
ual choice,  a  slavery  is  established,  which,  though  volun- 
tary, is  none  the  less  real.  The  consequences  are  that 
not  only  is  the  scope  of  individual  development  and 
relative  influence  lessened;  but,  through  such  deliver- 
ance, new  opportunities  are  created  for  selfish  and 
unscrupulous  lobbyists  to  victimize  the  masses. 

We  have  seen  the  popularity  of  meddlesome  legislation 
in  the  United  States  ;  and  we  have  also  seen  the  ease 
with  which  Canadian  legislators  have  been  able  to  satisfy 
their  constituents,  that  in  the  hands  of  a  paternal  gov- 
ernment they  could  trust  the  management  of  their 
dearest  interests. 

In  the  United  States,  at  the  present  time,  seventy-five 
per  cent,  of  the  people  allow  their  liberties,  in  regard  to 
trade,  to  be  sacrificed  to  satisfy  the  avarice  of  a  few 
monopolists  and  the  needs  of  a  ponderous  political  sys- 
tem. Yet  the  fathers  of  this  same  people,  little  more 
than  one  hundred  years  ago,  rose  in  their  might  and 
waged  war  with  England  to  gain  perfect  commercial 
freedom.  Just  now,  in  Canada,  a  faction  are  clamoring 
for  the  privilege  of  having  their  commercial  dealings 
confined  to  this  continent  alone  ;  though  the  liberties, 
and  chances  for  trade,  which  they  are  willing  to  imperil, 
are  valuable  beyond  compare  with  those  which  the  colo- 
nies of  America  a  century  ago  were  ready  to  fight  for  in 
order  to  secure  to  their  own  control.  In  America,  the 
most  burdensome  system  of  taxation  that  can  be  devised 
— taxes  on  imports — has  increased,  in  the  last  twenty-five 
years,  many  times  the  increase  of  population.  And  still 
the  people  sanction  a  continual  increase.  Will  they 
eventually  cry  a  halt  ?  Or  will  they  allow  it  to  go  on 
unchecked,  until  they  are  powerless  to  compel  a  change  ? 


l8o  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

Our  political  systems  give  to  our  legislators  most 
tempting  opportunities,  by  effecting  slight  changes,  to 
put  thousands  into  the  hands  of  the  monopolist  and  the 
treasury  at  the  expense  of  the  people  ;  while  the  manu- 
facturer in  return  will  put  his  hundreds  into  the  poli- 
tician's election  fund,  and  make  a  good  bargain  by  this 
exchange  of  services.  The  politician  has  but  to  support 
the  aims  of  the  monopolist,  and  the  monopolist  will  stand 
by  the  politician. 

So  apparently  irresistible  are  the  toils  of  our  various 
politico-fiscal  systems  that  even  some  of  our  best  men 
are  unable  to  escape  their  pernicious  influence.  Have 
we  not  recently  seen  our  most  earnest,  able,  high-minded, 
and  experienced  statesmen,  who,  from  their  first  entry 
into  the  political  arena,  have  stood  by  the  masses,  finally 
advocating  the  cause  of  the  oppressor  as  a  last  recourse 
for  a  return  to  power  ?  The  results,  of  course,  are  a 
greater  victory  for  capital  and  the  loss  of  champions  for 
the  interests  of  the  people. 

Many  of  our  laws  are  made,  not  in  the  interest  of  the 
masses,  but  for  the  selfish  ends  of  the  few,  and  very  often 
for  the  direct  benefit  of  the  selfish  politicians  who  make 
them.  A  goodly  number  of  our  people  know  all  this  ; 
they  feel  that  its  corrupting  and  demoralizing  influence 
has  permeated  through  our  whole  social  life  ;  but  we,  in 
effect,  have  decided  that  party  despotism  must  be  main- 
tained. 

How  appropriate  are  these  words  of  Bastiat  :  "  What ! 
the  law  is  no  longer  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed,  but  the 
arm  of  the  oppressor  !  The  law  is  no  longer  a  shield, 
but  a  sword  !  The  law  no  longer  holds  in  her  august 
hands  a  scale,  but  false  weights  and  measures  !  And  you 
wish  to  have  society  well  regulated  !     Your  system  has 


THE  FARMER  LOSING  HIS  POLITICAL  PO  WER.      1 8  I 

written  over  the  entrance  of  the  legislative  halls  these 
words  :  '  Whoever  acquires  any  influence  here  can  obtain 
his  share  of  the  legalized  pillage.'  And  what  has  been 
the  result  ?  All  classes  of  society  have  become  demora- 
lized by  shouting  around  the  gates  of  the  palace  :  '  Give 
me  a  share  in  the  spoils  !  '  " 

Yes,  many  of  us  know  full  well  that  our  laws  are  op- 
pressive, demoralizing,  and  expensive.  Professor  Sum- 
ner says  of  the  United  States  :  "  Men  are  put  up  for  the 
correction  of  these  bad  laws  who  are  '  no  better  than  the 
laws  themselves  '  " — men  whose  hearts  are  not  in  the 
interest  of  reforms,  whose  very  natures  prompt  them  to 
oppression.  Can  we  expect  an  extension  of  justice  and 
liberty  at  their  hands  ?  "  Can  you  gather  grapes  from 
thorns,  or  figs  from  thistles  ?  "  Party  declares  for  them  ; 
and  the  independent  voice,  the  best  voice  of  the  country, 
is  not  heard  in  our  legislative  halls.' 

Our  public  men  are  urged  to  stand  by  principle,  by 
truth,  by  the  cause  of  real  liberalism,  as  the  only  cause 
worth  working  for,  as  the  cause  which  must  eventually 
win.  But,  in  return,  they  say  :  "  It  is  no  time  to  philoso- 
phize, to  moralize,  to  theorize "  ;  that  ''  the  man   who 

'  Says  New  York  T7-ibiine  editorially  :  ' '  The  governing  classes  at 
Ottawa  prosper  with  the  adventurous  aid  of  railway  contracts  and 
jobbery  of  every  description.  .  .  .  The  future  seems  dark  and  uncer- 
tain and  clouded  with  difficulty,  because  the  present  is  a  period  of 
disenchantment,  during  which  the  people  have  found  out  that  Confed- 
eration is  enriching  a  powerful  ring  of  government  politicians,  office- 
holders, and  corruptionists,  without  promoting  the  permanent  pros- 
perity of  the  people." — October,  1889.  The  people  of  Canada  may 
be  induced  to  stand  by  Confederation,  but  the  greatest  cause  for  dis- 
satisfaction is  in  its  being  held  together  by  the  very  system  which 
Sir  John  Macdonald  borrowed  from  the  protectionists  of  the  United 
States,  for  whom  the  New  York  Tribune  is  the  chief  organ, 


1 82  AMERICAN  FARMS, 

advocates  principles  is  a  crank,  a  lunatic  "  ;  that  "  the 
first  and  main  thing  is  victory,  principles  afterwards." 
Victory  or  no  victory,  principles  are  shoved  aside  or 
degraded  into  merely  serving  the  objects  of  the  hour. 
These  politicians,  it  is  true,  often  go  to  the  hustings 
advocating  changes  of  the  most  startling  character  for 
the  presumed  welfare  of  the  "  sovereign  people."  But 
when  they  get  into  secure  positions  themselves,  they 
coolly  take  effectual  measures  to  shelve  these  reforms  or 
warp  them  into  harmony  with  their  own  selfish  interests. 
And  are  they  brought  to  book  by  the  people,  as  they 
should  be  ?  O  no  !  Unforeseen  circumstances  require 
a  new  programme,  and  the  dissatisfied  are  silenced  for 
the  time.' 

New  schemes  are  being  continually  set  afloat  to  mys- 
tify and  captivate,  and  for  the  purpose  of  using  up  taxa- 
tion surpluses,  and  to  furnish  excuses  for  further  drafts 
on  the  people.  For  the  onerous  tax  extracted  from  the 
citizen  through  a  vicious  system  one  day,  he  is  made  to 
laud  and  glorify  his  representatives  the  next  for  gaining 
for  him,  in  the  most  conspicuous  and  flattering  manner, 
a  trifling  service  in  return,  the  intrinsic  value  of  which 
may  be  most  questionable. 

Our  political  schemes  are  decided,  not  by  the  inherent 
value  of  the  different  planks  in  the  platform  agreed  on — 
not  because  those  planks  rest  upon  principles  of  high 
and  desirable  order,  but  because  their  adoption  offers,  as 

'  All  thoughtful  persons  can  bear  testimony  that  the  result  of  a 
dependence  upon  expedients  ends  in  barren  result — sorrow  and  con- 
fusion. Legislators  are  but  human.  Statecraft,  however,  is  supposed 
to  be  the  work  of  ripe  experience.  Says  Ruskin  :  "  It  is  far  better 
to  spend  your  thousand  pounds  in  making  a  good  gun,  and  then  blow 
it  to  pieces,  than  to  pass  a  life  of  idleness.     Only  do  not  let  it  be 


THE  FARMER  LOSING  HIS  POLITICAL  POWER.      1 83 

the  politician  believes,  the  easiest  and  quickest  route  to 
power,  to  office,  to  the  public  treasury.  These  policies 
are  made  by  the  great  "  bosses,"  who  give  their  orders  to 
the  professionals,  and  who  write  and  work  up  the  inter- 
ests of  party  organizations  in  line  with  the  party  policy. 
The  professionals  give  their  orders  to  special  ward- 
workers,  who  are  supposed  to  carry  out,  to  the  letter,  the 
plan  of  the  "bosses."  Those  who  "  kick,"  remonstrate, 
or  philosophize,  are  ostracised  from  any  participation  in 
the  management  or  secrets  of  the  great  organizations. 
They  are  treated  with  the  utmost  severity.  Neither  on 
the  platform  nor  through  the  press  will  they  gain  the 
public  ear,  if  the  party  machine  can  prevent  them.  The 
press  is  too  much  controlled  by  one  or  the  other  of  the 
great  political  parties.  Those  who  are  in  office,  make  it 
their  business  to  assist  in  holding  together  that  party  to 
which  they  are  indebted  for  their  offices.  Those  who 
are  out  of  office  must  carry  the  next  election  in  order  to 
gain  office. 

Outside  the  great  party  machine  are  the  larger  por- 
tion of  the  people,  who  are  getting  to  feel,  more  and 
more,  either  indifferent,  discouraged,  helpless,  or  dis- 
gusted with  repeated  failures,  compromises,  and  expedi- 
ents, in  lieu  of  the  fulfilling  of  promises  and  pledges,  or 
expectations  raised  by  the  clever  politician  through  the 
vehement  denunciation  of  past  wrongs.  A  farmer,  here 
and  there,  may  show  dissatisfaction  at  all  this.  His  pro- 
called  political  economy."  Legislators  have  as  good  a  right  as  others 
to  their  years  of  experimental  schooling.  And  they  also  have  a  right, 
as  others  have,  to  the  plea  for  human  fallibility.  But  they  have  no 
right  to  practise  political  experiments,  speculations,  and  expedients 
at  the  expense  of  the  people,  and  claim  for  their  actions  the  appella- 
tion of  statesmanship. 


1 84  AM  ERICA  Kf  FARMS. 

testations  (should  he  choose  to  make  them)  are  not  to 
be  heeded,  if  it  can  be  avoided,  though  he  make  them 
ever  so  loudly.' 

The  same  old  story  is  repeated  over  and  over  again. 
We  tacitly  decide  that  either  one  or  the  other  despotism 
will  rule,  and  rule  in  its  own  way,  in  defiance  of  the 
objections  and  threatenings  of  the  victimized.  Our 
whole  political  and  social  morality  must  be  degenerating 
under  this  regime.^ 

'  A  few  days  ago  the  writer  suggested  to  a  legislator  that  we  should 
have  more  farmers  in  our  Parliaments.  He  replied:  "It  is  a  hard 
place  for  a  farmer,  for  the  moment  he  rises  in  the  House  in  their  be- 
half he  is  set  upon  by  a  half-dozen  lawyers."  The  Farm  and  Home 
expressed  similar  views  recently  when  referring  to  the  action  of  one  of 
our  legislative  bodies — views  which  apply  well  to  the  general  feelings 
of  politicians  toward  the  farmer  who  runs  the  gauntlet  of  presuming 
to  mix  in  political  matters — "  Whenever  the  Senate  could  see  a  farm- 
er's head,  it  hit  it." 

''■  Recently  said  the  Quebec  Chronicle  (Conservative):  "  There  are 
honest  men  in  both  political  camps,  but  the  difficulty  is  to  get  them  to 
enter  public  life.  It  is  the  tactician  who  eventually  comes  to  the 
front,  and  success  only  crowns  the  efforts  of  the  man  who  possesses  an 
elastic  conscience.  In  the  old  days  there  used  to  be  a  strong  public 
opinion  in  the  country.  When  the  politicians  went  wrong  there  was 
such  a  thing  as  keeping  them  from  power  and  putting  into  their  places 
men  of  sterling  integrity.  Alas  !  we  have  no  public  opinion  nowa- 
days worth  the  toss  of  a  copper.  Self-interest  is  the  first  law  of 
nature,  and  the  premier  who  knows  his  man  and  understands  the  art 
of  buying,  can  have  little  difficulty  in  maintaining  himself  in  power  as 
long  as  he  has  a  mind  to  reign." 

On  the  foregoing  the  St.  John  Telegraph  (Liberal)  remarks  :  "  Has 
it  really  come  to  this,  that  an  honest  politician  cannot  succeed,  and 
that  there  is  no  public  opinion  worth  the  toss  of  a  copper  ?  We  trust 
it  is  not  yet  so  bad  as  that.  There  is,  no  doubt,  less  honesty  in  poli- 
tics than  there  was  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  and  vastly  less  of 
public  opinion.  .  .  .  What  fate  is  in  store  for  a  country  that  will 
not  have  honest  men  for  rulers  ? " 


THE  FARMER  LOSING  HIS  POLITICAL  POWER.       1 85 

Said  George  William  Curtis,  a  few  years  ago,  before 
one  of  the  universities  of  America  :  "  The  rural  states- 
men who  founded  the  Republic  saw,  in  a  vision,  a  homo- 
geneous and  intelligent  community,  the  peace  and 
prosperity  and  intelligence  of  the  state  reflected  in  the 
virtue  and  wisdom  of  the  government.  But  is  this  our 
actual  America  ?  Or  a  glimpse  of  Arcadia  ?  Is  this  the 
United  States  of  Plato's  Republic  ?  Or  Harrington's 
Oceana?  Or  Sir  Thomas  More's  Utopia?  What  are 
the  political  maxims  of  the  hour  ?  In  Rome  do  as 
Romans  do.  Fight  fire  with  fire.  Beat  the  devil  with 
his  own  weapons.  Take  men  as  they  are  ;  and  don't 
affect  superior  goodness.  Beware  of  the  politics  of  the 
moon  ;  and  of  Sunday-school  statesmanship.  This  is 
our  current  political  wisdom ;  and  the  results  are 
familiar.  '  This  is  a  nasty  State,'  cries  the  eager  parti- 
san, '  and  I  hope  we  have  done  enough  nasty  work  to 
carry  it  !  '  '  The  conduct  of  the  opposition,'  says  another, 
'  was  infamous.  They  resorted  to  every  kind  of  base  and 
contemptible  means,  and,  thank  God  !  we  have  beaten 
them  at  their  own  game.'  The  majority  is  overthrown 
by  the  political  machinery  intended  to  secure  its  will. 
The  machinery  is  oiled  by  corruption,  and  grinds  the 
honest  majority  to  powder." 

How  well  all  this  applies,  at  this  very  hour,  to  the 
party  politics  of  Canada  as  well  as  the  United  States,  all 
know  too  well.  Either  party  in  each  country  is  ener- 
getic in  its  vociferations  against  the  corrupting  influences 
used  by  the  other.  Yet  from  all  sides  we  hear  that  it  is 
preposterous  to  think  of  gaining  power  without  using  the 
same  corrupting  means.  However  righteous  the  cause, 
however  direct  its  appeals  to  reason,  however  great  the 
interest  of  the  people  in  its  triumphs,  it  is  the  current 


1 86  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

political  wisdom  to  ostracise  public  discussion,  and  to 
favor  the  dependence  upon  petty  bribes,  secret  influ- 
ences, and  pot-house  arguments. 

Knowledge  of  the  fact  that  in  less  than  fifteen  years 
in  Canada,  over  seventy  elections  have  been  voided  by 
the  courts  of  that  country  for  corrupt  practices,  should 
cause  all  its  right-thinking  people  to  blush  for  its  political 
impurity. 

Even  as  late  as  thirty  years  ago,  Simon  Brown,  the 
politician,  and  gifted  editor  of  the  New  England 
Farmer  of  those  days,  had  not  lost  hope  for  the  future 
of  America,  through  the  power  of  the  rural  population 
to  guide  in  wisdom  and  virtue  the  political,  as  well  as  the 
social  and  economic  destinies  of  the  Republic.  He  saw 
a  future  before  the  farmers  of  America  as  the  proper 
governors  of  the  commonwealth.  In  January,  1859,  he 
said  to  them  :  "  The  people,  the  yeomanry,  the  dwellers 
in  the  rural  districts," — the  readers  of  the  New  England 
Earmer,  and  the  like,  must  realize  that  they  are  the 
legitimate  rulers  of  the  land,  and  act  accordingly — must 
take  the  reins  of  government  into  their  own  hands. 

Every  year  sees  the  farmer  with  less  political  influence 
than  ever  before.  This  certainly  is  a  lamentable  fact. 
When  the  people  of  Greece  got  to  look  upon  its  rural 
populations  as  unfit  for  any  thing  but  drudgery,  they 
were  preparing  the  Grecian  Republic  for  its  downfall. 

This,  then,  is  a  first  cause  of  the  American  farmer's 
troubles,  the  neglect  of  his  political  rights  and  duties  ; 
others  follow  as  consequences. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   farmer's  interest   IN   FREE   TRADE   IN   NAT- 
URAL  PRODUCTS   ONLY.* 

I  am  not  about  to  select  that  great  interest  connected  with  the 
agriculture  of  this  country,  and  call  upon  the  landowners  to  relinquish 
protection,  unprepared  at  the  same  time  to  call  upon  other  protected 
classes  to  relinquish  protection  also.  In  the  confidence  that  the  prin- 
ciple for  which  I  contend  is  a  just  and  wise  one,  I  ask  all  protected 
interests  to  make  the  sacrifice,  if  it  be  a  sacrifice,  which  the  appli- 
cation of  that  principle  will  render  necessary. — Sir  Robert  Peel, 
1846. 

From  the  columns  of  a  valuable  little  farm  paper — The 
Farm  and  Home — we  read  the  other  day  :  ''  Most  agri- 
cultural products  seem  to  be  viewed  as  raw  material. 
This  view  appears  to  have  largely  permeated  both  politi- 
cal parties.  It  is  a  view  that  appears  destined  to  do 
incalculable  harm  to  our  agriculture,  if  permitted  to  pre- 
vail. .  .  .  Most  of  his  (the  farmer's)  products  are  as 
really  manufactured  articles  as  are  the  clothes  he  wears. 
Let  us  demand  and  compel  a  halt  until  this  principle  is 
honestly  recognized."  This  protest  seems  to  us  correct 
and  timely  in  the  interest  of  the  farmer.  Is  there  not 
quite  as  much  reason  for  protecting  the  producer  of  so- 
called  "natural  products,"  or  products  of  the  farm,  as 
the  so-called  manufactured  articles  ? 

'  The  substance  of  this  chapter  appeared  in  correspondence  of  the 
writer,  printed  in  the  Halifax  Morning  Chronicle,  November,  1S88. 

187 


1 88  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

Though  the  much-talked-of  "Mills  Bill,"  which  the 
American  people  have  lately  passed  their  verdict  upon, 
was  certainly  a  free-trade  measure  in  an  international 
sense  ;  we  are  not  surprised  that  it  found  no  more  favor 
with  the  agricultural  classes.  It  offered  them  little  relief 
from  the  avarice  of  the  monopolist,  while  it  threatened 
to  take  from  a  large  class  of  farmers  the  little  protection 
they  may  have  enjoyed.  But  it  is  hard  to  conceive  it 
possible  that  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  should 
have  suffered  the  impositions  which  have  been  gradually 
put  upon  them,  without  louder  protests  ere  this.  We 
find,  however,  that  these  exactions  have  gathered  with 
more  or  less  increasing  force  for  a  century. 

The  "triumphant"  Republican  party  boasts  of  having 
done  much  in  the  interest  of  the  people  in  increasing  the 
free  list,  from  representing  an  import  of  only  14  millions 
per  annum  twenty  years  ago,  to  representing  244  millions 
at  the  present  time.  Into  this  free  list  has  gone  the 
greater  part  of  the  slight  protection  which  the  farmer 
may  have  had.  While  these  changes  have  been  made 
against  him,  more  important  ones  have  been  made  in 
another  direction.  The  duties  which  he  has  been 
obliged  to  pay  on  manufactured  articles,  have  risen 
from  ^bout  25 J  per  cent,  in  the  decade  1850-60,  to  38 
per  cent,  in  the  decade  1860-70  ;  to  be  raised  again  to 
42^  per  cent,  in  the  decade  1870-80  ;  and  then  again  to 
44  per  cent,  in  the  last  seven  years  ;  to  finish  up  with  47 
per  cent,  in  1887.  The  free  list  has  been  made  to  cover 
such  articles  as  are  consumed  by  all,  and  productive  of 
revenue  for  the  government  treasury  only — when  taxed 
— and  the  few  articles  of  farm  produce  which  may  be 
imported.  Says  Professor  Taussig,  in  his  "  Tariff  His- 
tory of   the    United    States " :     "  Step   by   step,   in   the 


THE   FARMER'S  INTEREST.  1 89 

various  tariff  acts  which  have  been  passed  since  the  war, 
all  the  non-protective  duties  have  been  swept  away,  in 
order  that  the  protective  duties  might  be  retained.  Arti- 
cles like^  cocoa,  pepper,  cinnamon,  cloves,  olives,  the 
most  natural  and  proper  sources  of  revenue  from  import 
duties,  have  been  admitted  free  of  duty.  The  decisive 
step  in  this  process  was  the  tea  and  coffee  act  of  1872. 
There  are  at  present  none  other  than  protective  duties  in 
our  tariff." 

Thus  we  find  that,  though  the  United  States  customs 
free  list  has  been  extended,  it  has  been  by  ignoring  the 
farmer's  right  to  be  considered  a  subject  for  protection, 
while  at  the  same  time  increasing  protection  to 
manufactures.  While  these  changes  referring  to  the 
tariff  have  been  transpiring,  the  internal  taxes  upon 
domestic  manufacture  laid  in  1862,  which  amounted  at 
one  time  to  $127,000,000,  nullifying,  to  a  slight  extent, 
the  protection  given  the  manufactures,  have  been  discon- 
tinued. Besides  this,  the  tax  of  $72,000,000,  which  was 
taken  yearly  from  the  460,170  persons  who  were  found 
to  have  incomes  exceeding  $r,ooo,  to  the  aggregate 
amount  of  $800,000,000,  is  no  more  collected.  In  fact, 
this  vast  aggregate  income,  which  has  doubled  or  trebled 
since  the  repeal  of  the  tax,  pays  nothing  for  its  protection 
into  the  federal  revenues,  except  in  the  individual  cases 
where  the  indirect  taxes  operate  to  the  extent  that  the 
living  expenses  exceed  the  $1,000. 

In  the  earliest  days  of  Canadian  protective  legislation, 
the  agricultural  interests  were  classed  among  those  which 
were  to  be  directly  guarded  and  vastly  benefited  by  re- 
strictive duties  against  the  products  of  the  foreign  rival. 
Many  farmers  were  highly  delighted  at  the  prospect  of 
having  the  domestic  markets  all  to  themselves  for  the 


190  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

fruits  of  their  orchards.  The  beef,  pork,  and  hams  of 
the  United  States  were  to  be  kept  out  of  the  country, 
and  consequently  the  farmers  would  have  a  chance  to 
market  their  meats  at  profitable  prices.  The  duty  levied 
against  the  import  of  corn  and  corn-meal,  it  was  argued, 
would  give  the  farmers  of  the  Maritime  Provinces  an 
opportunity  for  reviving  a  once  profitable  industry — the 
raising  of  coarse  grains  for  the  use  of  the  fisherman  and 
lumberman.  And  the  duty  of  fifty  or  seventy-five  cents  per 
barrel  on  the  import  of  wheat-flour  was,  it  was  claimed, 
to  cause  the  maritime  consumers  to  depend  upon  the 
lands  of  the  Lower  Provinces  for  their  bread.  No  doubt 
these  flattering  prospects  prompted  many  a  farmer  to 
cast  in  his  lot  with  the  party  for  protective  legislation. 
An  enthusiastic  advocate  of  this  new  policy,  residing  in 
the  western  part  of  Nova  Scotia,  was  so  deeply  impressed 
with  the  probable  happy  results  of  protection  to  the 
farmers'  grain  interests,  that  he  immediately  erected  an 
expensive  mill  for  the  grinding  of  domestic  grains,  im- 
ported large  quantities  of  seeds,  and  gave  his  farmer 
friends  every  assistance  possible  in  taking  advantage  of 
this  new  wealth-producing  policy.  The  mill  ran  little 
more  than  a  year,  and  then  closed  up. 

The  experience  of  the  years  which  have  passed  since 
the  inauguration  of  the  Canadian  policy  of  protection 
should  do  much  to  teach  how  delusive  and  unreliable  are 
the  promises  of  meddlesome  legislation  for  the  control 
of  industry.  Probably  never  before  were  the  farmers  of 
Canada  driven  more  to  depend  merely  upon  the  pro- 
duction of  those  articles  which  can  be  exported  in  com- 
petition with  all  rivals,  than  at  the  present  day.  When 
the  manufacturers  of  cottons,  of  rubber  goods,  of  agri- 
cultural implements,  and  of  the  products  of  sugar  refin- 


THE  FARMER  S  INTEREST.  I9I 

eries  and  the  like  have  found  that  foreign  competitors 
have  continued  to  send  in  their  productions  in  spite  of 
existing  restrictions,  the  paternal  government  has  always 
been  ready  to  answer  their  entreaties  for  more  protec- 
tion. Three  times  since  the  inception  of  the  high  tariff 
in  Canada,  have  the  manufacturers  of  agricultural  tools 
been  granted  increased  protection,  in  order  that  the  for- 
eign articles  might  be  prohibited,  and  that  the  profit  to 
their  labors  might  be  increased.  We  ask — What  has 
been  done  for  the  Canadian  farmer  in  this  ?  We  think 
the  answer  will  be,  all  over  Canada,  "  practically  noth- 
ing !  " 

If  it  be  desirable  to  increase  the  variety  of  industries, 
it  should  be  good  policy  to  retain  and  augment  those 
already  in  existence.  Why  not  increase  the  obstructions 
to  the  import  of  beef,  pork,  and  hams  into  Canada,  until 
the  domestic  productions  have  complete  control  of  the 
home  markets  ?  Why  allow  the  fruits  of  the  orchards  and 
gardens  of  the  United  States  to  take  any  part  in  supply- 
ing consumers  in  Canada  ?  Would  it  not  be  encouraging 
as  worthy  a  class  of  labor  as  that  of  the  foreign  workmen 
and  workwomen,  who  are  being  drawn  to  our  factories  ? 
But  what  is  really  the  character  of  the  Canadian  pro- 
tective principles  in  reference  to  this  very  important 
question,  and  what  are  the  views  of  its  guiding  spirits  ? 
Sir  John  Macdonald,  Premier  of  Canada,  most  as- 
toundingly  declares,  that:  "To  the  farmer  free  inter- 
change of  natural  products  (with  foreign  countries), 
would,  of  course,  be  highly  advantageous  "  ;  but  of  the 
manufacturer,  he  says :  "  Free  trade  in  manufactures 
would  be  disastrous  for  him  at  present."  ' 

Sir  Leonard  Tilley,  at  present  Governor  of  New  Bruns- 

'  To  the  representative  of  the  E'all  Mall  Gazette. 


192  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

wick,  who  has  the  honor  of  being  one  of  the  principal 
framers  of  the  national  policy  of  Canada,  which,  it  was 
claimed,  would  foster  and  develop  the  industries  of  all 
classes,  now  **  favors  a  largely  increased  free  list  of  the 
natural  products,  and  of  certai?i  kinds  of  manufactured 
goods." 

Sir  Charles  Tupper,  late  Finance  Minister  of  Canada, 
has  admitted  to  having  lately  offered  to  enter  into  nego- 
tiations with  the  United  States  Government  for  the  pur- 
pose of  placing  all  natural  products  upon  the  free  list 
between  the  two  countries.  At  the  Cutlers'  feast  at 
Sheffield,  England,  September  5,  1888,  Sir  Charles  stated 
that  "  they  (the  Conservatives  of  Canada)  had  always 
been  ready,  as  they  were  ready  now,  to  extend  their 
commercial  relations  with  them  (the  United  States)  with 
regard  to  the  natural  products  of  the  two  countries." 

Moreover,  in  debating  the  question  of  unrestricted 
reciprocity  before  Parliament  at  Ottawa  (1888),  nearly 
every  speaker  on  the  government  side  of  the  House 
favored  absolute  free  trade  in  "natural  products." 

One  said  :  "  I  am  the  son  of  a  farmer,  and  I  believe 
in  protecting  every  individual  when  it  is  necessary  he 
should  be  protected.  But  I  contend  that,  so  far  as  the 
farmers  of  Annapolis  and  Kings  (in  Nova  Scotia)  are 
concerned,  they  do  not  want  any  protection."  ' 

Further,  the  whole  government  press  in  Canada  is 
declaring  the  willingness  of  its  party  to  enter  into  the 
utmost  reciprocity  of  trade  in  farm  products  with  any 
country  willing  for  it.  And  is  it  not  a  provision  of  the 
national  policy  act,  that,  whenever  the  United  States 
chooses  to  put  natural  products  upon  the  free  list, 
Canada  shall  reciprocate  ?     Of  course,  to  open  thus  the 

'Mr.  Mills,  of  Annapolis. 


THE   FARMER'S  INTEREST.  193 

markets  of  Canada  to  the  farm  productions  of  the  United 
States,  is  to  open  such  markets  to  the  only  competitors 
worth  considering. 

The  more  that  is  known  of  American  protection, 
either  in  the  United  States  or  in  Canada,  the  more  it  will 
be  found  that  its  aims  are  not  for  the  benefit  of  all 
classes,  but  for  a  special  class.  Either  this  or  protec- 
tion is  a  delusion.  It  was  well  said  by  Sir  John's  organ, 
the  Toronto  Empire:  "As  far  as  the  manufacturer  is 
concerned,  cheapening  food  (by  imports),  which  the 
country  cannot  raise  in  sufficient  quantities,  is  a  protec- 
tive measure,  not  an  abandonment  of  protection."  We 
presume  this  to  be  an  authoritative  exposition  of  the  real 
sentiments  of  the  leading  Canadian  protectionists  who 
are  giving  the  cause  political  guidance.  Gradually  the 
farmer  must  be  borne  on  to  the  conclusion,  that  the 
national  policy  of  Canada  is  not  for  his  benefit  ;  and  that 
when  the  protectionist  politician,  whether  innocently  or 
otherwise,  signifies  his  willingness  to  support  a  policy  of 
free  trade  in  "  natural  products  only,"  he  is  one  who 
would  sacrifice  the  farmers  for  the  benefit  of  the 
manufacturers  !  and  that  the  protective  policy  of  Canada, 
when  properly  looked  into,  like  its  prototype  in  the 
United  States,  means  protection  for  the  manufacturers 
and  plutocracy,  and  for  them  only. 

If  it  be  contended  the  farmers,  through  protection  to 
manufacturers,  gain  indirectly,  by  the  increase  of  home 
markets,  we  answer  :  Would  not  universal  free  trade  in 
natural  products,  or  farm  products,  be  making  these  very 
markets  free  markets  for  the  farm  products  of  the  world  ? 
If  this  is  so,  then  what  becomes  of  the  theory  of  building 
up  home  markets  for  the  farmers  ? 

The  Hon.  Charles  Tupper,  in  a  speech  at  Beaverton, 
9 


194  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

in  September,  1888,  gave  utterance  to  most  extraordinary- 
views  on  this  subject.  He  said  :  *'  I  say  again,  that  we 
have  every  reason,  from  the  policy  of  the  (United  States) 
Democratic  party,  to  believe  that  we  can  have  virtually 
the  old  reciprocal  relations  and  still  keep  the  Canadian 
market  for  the  Canadian  manufacturer  and  the  Canadian 
farmer  as  well."  How  these  two  opposite  things  could  be 
accomplished  we  are  unable  to  understand  :  keep  the 
home  market  for  the  farmer,  and  at  the  same  time  throw 
it  open  to  free  competition.' 

What  has  been  done  by  protection  to  make  a  home 

'  The  following,  from  the  St.  John  Sun  of  August  23,  i88g,  states 
the  position  of  the  government  of  Canada  exactly  :  "  In  declaring 
their  approval  of  reciprocity  in  natural  products,  therefore,  govern- 
ment journals  are  not  hedging,  but  simply  restating  a  position  from 
which  they  have  never  withdrawn." 

The  opposition  press  are  equally  correct  in  their  claim  that  no 
public  man  in  Canada  has  ever  opposed  ' '  free  trade  in  natural  products 
only  "  ;  therefore  the  farmers'  interests  are  not  represented  in  Par- 
liament. 

The  following  is  the  standing  proposition  appended  to  the  Canadian 
customs  act  of  1879  :  "  Any  or  all  of  the  following  things,  that  is  to 
say,  animals  of  all  kinds,  green  fruits,  hay,  straw,  bran,  seeds  of  all 
kinds,  vegetables  (including  potatoes  and  other  roots),  plants,  trees  and 
shrubs,  coal  and  coke,  salt,  hops,  wheat,  peas  and  beans,  barley,  rye, 
oats,  Indian  corn,  buckwheat  and  all  other  grain,  flour  of  wheat  and 
flour  of  rye,  Indian  meal  and  oatmeal  and  flour  and  meal  of  any  other 
grain,  butter,  cheese,  fish  (salted  or  smoked),  lard,  tallow,  meats 
(fresh,  salted,  or  smoked),  and  lumber  may  be  imported  into  Canada 
free  of  duty,  or  at  a  less  rate  of  duty  than  is  provided  by  this  act, 
upon  proclamation  of  the  Governor-in-Council,  which  may  be  issued 
whenever  it  appears  to  his  satisfaction  that  similar  articles  from  Can- 
ada may  be  imported  into  the  United  States  free  of  duty,  or  at  a  rate 
of  duty  not  exceeding  that  payable  on  the  same  under  such  proclama- 
tion when  imported  into  Canada."  This  offer  has  been  modified 
slightly,  but  not  in  the  interest  of  the  farmer. 


7'HE   FARMER'S  INTEREST.  1 95 

market  for  the  farmers  of  New  England  ?  From  thou- 
sands of  miles  away  to  the  West,  the  consumers  of  New 
England  are  being  supplied  with  farm  produce.  "  This 
4,000,000  of  people  use  grain,"  but  96  per  cent,  of  their 
breadstuffs  are  sent  in  from  the  West.  The  West  sends 
them  annually  upwards  of  500,000  tons  of  grain,  $20,- 
000,000  of  breadstuffs,  $3,000,000  of  butter,  $55,000,000 
of  provisions,  $45,000,000  of  wool,  besides  hides  and 
other  farm  products.  In  all,  not  less  than  $200,000,000 
of  farm  produce  per  year  (or  equal  to  upwards  of  $300 
for  each  individual  employed  in  manufacturing  in  New 
England)  is  supplied  by  the  West  to  the  consumers  of 
New  England.' 

In  the  Maritime  Provinces  manufacturing  towns  may 
spring  up,  but  any  increase  of  demand  for  farm  produce, 
consequent  upon  this,  will  be  met  by  the  Western  or 
Ontario  producer.  We  look  over  the  advertising  col- 
umns of  the  dailies  of  the  manufacturing  towns  of  New 
Brunswick  at  one  time,  and  we  find  that  the  markets  are 
being  supplied  by  Ontario  apples,  at  another  by  apples 
from  the  United  States.  And  yet  the  Nova  Scotia 
farmer  looks  to  England  for  a  market  for  his  apples.  Is 
not  the  home-market  theory  a  delusion  ?  ^ 

Driven  from  one  horn  of  the  dilemma  to  the  other, 
protectionists  will  tell  us  that  the  policy  is  necessary  for 
the  purpose  of  binding  the  country  together,  to  create  a 
national  sentiment.  Such  schemes  maybe  necessary  where 
rulers  and  people  are  in  a  semi-civilized  state.     But  in 

'  Mr.  James  G.  Blaine  to  the  Western  farmers. 

^  Including  grain  and  flour,  the  annual  shipments  of  the  products 
of  the  farm  from  the  Upper  Provinces  to  Nova  Scotia,  now  amount 
to  $2,500,000;  in  other  than  grain  and  flour  $100,000  annually; 
whereas  such  shipments  from  Nova  Scotia  to  the  Upper  Provinces 
has  not  amounted  to  $50,000  in  a  quarter  of  a  century. 


196  AMERICAN  FARMS, 

order  that  a  nation  may  be  created  is  it  necessary  for  an 
intelligent  people  to  be  moulded  into  the  required  con- 
dition through  the  existence  of  a  fiscal  policy  that  is 
destitute  of  the  principles  of  equity,  that  is  scientifically 
and  economically  false, — a  policy  towards  which  our  best 
feelings  must  be  in  constant  rebellion  ?  Is  this  the  true 
national  policy  for  civilized  beings  ? 

And  we  may  also  ask,  Is  it  a  true  and  upright  policy  to 
strive  to  warp  any  intelligent  community  into  any  politi- 
cal change  through  the  workings  of  a  false  fiscal  policy? 

What  does  protection  undertake  to  do  for  the  indus- 
trial classes  ?  We  have  but  to  glance  over  the  speeches 
and  writings  of  its  advocates  to  learn  that  it  assumes  the 
ofiice  of  protecting  labor,  to  secure  to  industrial  classes  a 
profitable  market  for  their  productions  that  national 
labor  may  not  be  exposed  to  the  keen  competition  of  the 
foreign  rival.  This  being  its  aim,  why  should  this  pro- 
tection not  be  extended  to  the  laborers  who  till  the  farms, 
who  cultivate  the  orchards,  and  who  tend  the  flocks  ? 
That  this  object,  the  creation  of  a  necessity  for  labor, 
without  regard  to  its  effect  upon  the  masses,  is  a  prin- 
ciple of  the  Canadian  national  policy,  may  be  seen  in 
many  ways.  We  have  an  illustration  in  the  peculiar 
sugar  duties,  which  cause  the  import  of  raw  sugars, 
which  require  refining,  from  countries  to  which  she  ex- 
ports nothing,  instead  of  encouraging  the  importation  of 
sugars  which  may  not  require  refining,  and  from  coun- 
tries which  buy  her  natural  products  from  her. 

We  must  certainly  admit  that  labor  may  not  compose 
the  total  exchange  value  of  productions,  though  it  does 
in  the  main,  but  we  contend  that  in  our  farm  productions 
labor  should  be  considered  as  important,  both  as  regards 
its  nature  and  extent,  as  in  any  of  the  manufactures  for 


THE  FARMER'S  INTEREST.  197 

which  the  farmer's  productions  are  eventually  exchanged. 
Taking  this  view  as  being  undoubtedly  correct,  we  are 
unable  to  understand  why  the  laboring  farmer,  who 
throws  on  the  market  his  barley,  his  oats,  his  apples,  his 
small  fruits,  his  beef  and  his  pork,  should  be  exposed  to 
a  world-wide  competition  to  reduce  the  exchange  value 
of  his  labor  to  the  minimum  ;  while,  on  the  contrary,  the 
manufacturer's  labor  must  be  so  protected  that  he  may 
be  enabled  to  force  consumers  to  pay  the  maximum  price 
for  his  hours  of  labor.  For,  is  it  not  the  admission  of 
the  meddlesome  legislator,  that  the  tendency  of  free  trade 
is  to  reduce  the  price  of  articles  exposed  to  free  competi- 
tion ?  If  not,  why  favor  the  free  import  of  raw  materials 
in  the  interest  of  the  manufacturers  ? 

But  we  will  go  a  little  into  particulars  to  show  how 
protection  in  Canada  has  served  the  agricultural  interests. 
In  the  fiscal  year  ending  with  June  30,  1887,  the  free  im- 
ports of  goods  classed  "  animals  and  their  products,  and 
agricultural  products,"  composed  about  6yV  per  cent,  of 
the  total  imports  into  Canada.  The  three  fourths  of  a 
million  dollars  of  fruits,  seeds,  and  trees,  lately  put  upon 
the  free  list,  increase  these  classes  to  above  6f  per  cent, 
of  the  total  import. 

In  the  fiscal  year  1887,  grain  and  grain  products,  ani- 
mals, butter,  cheese,  lard,  meats,  sausage  casings,  vege- 
tables, tomatoes,  canned  vegetables,  seeds,  trees,  and 
green  fruits,  to  the  amount  of  $4,908,145,  were  imported, 
on  which,  within  a  fraction  of  $800,000  in  duties  was 
levied.  To  this  dutiable  import,  by  adding  the  $6,437,- 
219  free  imports  of  farm  products  (omitting  tobacco),  we 
have  $11,345,264  to  represent  the  imports  of  farm  produce 
for  that  year.  By  a  little  calculating  it  will  be  found  that 
these  imports  paid  about  7  per  cent,  into  the  treasury,  and 


198  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

that  the  placing  of  about  three  quarters  of  a  million 
dollars'  worth  of  fruit,  seed,  and  tree  imports  upon  the 
free  list  reduces  the  farmer's  protection  down  to  about 
6  per  cent.  Small  as  these  figures  representing  the 
farmer's  protection  seem,  it  must  also  be  borne  in  mind, 
that  a  large  portion  of  even  these  small  figures  is  made  up 
of  protective  imposts  on  canned  goods  (really  protection 
to  manufacturers). 

While  the  tendency  in  the  past  has  been  so  much  in  the 
direction  of  putting  farm  products  on  the  free  list,  it  has 
been  also  in  the  direction  of  rapidly  increasing  the  pro- 
tective duties  upon  the  farmer's  articles  of  consumption. 
In  1867,  the  Canadian  tariff  gave  the  manufacturer  15  per 
cent,  protection,  and  in  1877,  17I  per  cent.  In  1881,  the 
tariff  had  grown  in  the  interest  of  the  manufacturers  to 
about  27  per  cent.,  calculating  on  the  dutiable  list  only, 
and  about  23!  per  cent,  if  the  free  list  of  manufactures 
be  also  taken  into  account.  In  1887,  the  average  protec- 
tion to  manufacturers  was  about  30  per  cent,  on  goods 
classed  dutiable,  and  27^  per  cent,  on  dutiable  and  free 
manufactured  goods  combined.  For  1S88,  it  will  not  be 
less  than  2)Z  P^^  cent,  on  dutiable  manufactures,  as  the 
tariff  for  this  year  has  been  vastly  increased.' 

Canadian  protection  has  worked  about  as  the  following 

table  shows  : 

Against 
1879.   Assumed  fair  play  all  round.  the 

farmer  as 
1881.   To  the  farmer  8  ^,  to  the  manufacturer  27  ^       .     .         3f  to  i 

1887.  To  the  farmer  7  ^,  to  the  manufacturer  30  ^       .      .  4f  to  I 

1888.  To  the  farmer  6  ^,  to  the  manufacturer  about  33  %,^  ^\  to  i 

The  average  Canadian  protectionist  seems  to  be  per- 
fectly satisfied  with  this  one-sided  protection.    We  had  a 

'  This  prediction  has  been  fully  confirmed. 

^  Over  500,000  families  in  Canada  are  depending  directly  upon 
agriculture  for  a  living,  and  less  than  one  fifth  of  tliis  number  upon 


THE  FARMER'S  INTEREST.  1 99 

conspicuous  illustration  of  this  satisfaction  in  the  remarks 
of  the  protectionist  journal,  the  Halifax  Mail  (May  i 
1888),  relative  to  the  repeal  of  the  Canadian  fruit  duties, 
in  an  editorial  entitled,  *'  Cheaper  Fruits  and  Berries." 
It  said  :  "  These  changes  in  the  tariff  will  place  within 
the  reach  of  our  citizens  a  more  bountiful  supply  of 
cheaper  berries  and  fruits  during  the  ensuing  season.'' 
The  question  arises,  if  fruits  and  other  so-called  nat- 
ural products  are  made  "  cheaper  "  and  more  "  bountiful 
in  supply,"  and  placed  more  "  within  the  reach  of  our 
citizens  "  by  reason  of  such  freedom,  why  should  not  the 
same  results  follow  to  the  farmer  citizen,  if  manufactures 
were  put  upon  the  free  list  ?  If  articles  are  placed 
"  within  reach  of  citizens  "  by  being  made  "  cheaper  " 
through  the  removal  of  tariff  obstructions,  we  have  to 
conclude  that  the  consumers  of  such  articles  have  here- 
tofore paid  the  duties,  and  have  by  these  removals  gained 
an  advantage  as  consumers,  without  corresponding  loss 
in  income  as  producers.  If  so,  why  should  not  the 
"cheapening"  of  manufactures  by  free  trade  in  them, 
"  place  them  in  more  bountiful  supply  "  and  "  within 
the  reach  of  the  farmers,"  or  increase  the  farmers'  advan- 
tages as  consumers,  without  diminishing  their  power  as 
producers  ?  It  can  hardly  be  said  that  the  home  supply  of 
manufactures  is  greater  than  the  home  supply  of  "  fruits 
and  berries."  '     If  the  increase  of  price  in  farm  products 

manufacturing  ;  yet  her  customs  laws  collect  less  than  f  1,000,000 
upon  the  import  of  products  which  come  at  all  into  competition  with 
her  farmers  ;  whereas  over  $13,000,000  are  collected  from  foreign 
manufactures. 

'  The  fruit  growers  of  Nova  Scotia  have  now  (January,  1890)  a 
petition  before  the  Dominion  government  asking  for  a  reimposition  of 
fruit  duties,  but  even  the  representatives  of  the  fruit-raising  constitu- 
encies have  not  courage,  at  this  date,  to  define  their  real  economic 
views  upon  this  matter. 


200  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

through  tariff  legislation  for  the  protection  of  the  farmer 
cannot  be  met  by  the  other  classes  through  the  indirect 
benefits  which  protection  is  said  to  produce,  how  can  the 
farmer  expect  benefit  through  protection  to  the  manufac- 
turers ?  Moreover,  if  nothing  can  be  done  by  protecting 
farm  products  and  other  natural  products  in  the  way  of 
bringing  laborers  into  the  country,  or  to  keep  them  in 
the  country  to  raise  such  natural  products,  and  thereby 
create  a  home  market  for  manufacturers,  how  is  the 
farmer  to  gain  a  benefit  by  protection  to  the  manufac- 
turers ?  Prosperous  farmers  mean  decidedly  good  home 
markets  for  the  blacksmith,  shoemaker,  carriage-builder, 
the  house-builder,  brick-maker,  the  school  teacher,  the 
clergyman,  and  the  merchant. 

The  protectionists  are  undoubtedly  right  in  the  admis- 
sion that  an  extension  of  free  trade  in  natural  products 
only,  means  an  increase  of  protection  to  domestic  manu- 
factures. Free  traders  who  contend  to  the  contrary,  are 
of  a  very  questionable  class  ;  though,  to  use  the  words 
of  Bastiat,  "  there  is  in  political  economy  no  more  gen- 
erally accredited  sophism  than  this."  In  serving  as 
argument  in  the  hands  of  the  pretended  free-trade 
school,  says  Bastiat,  "  its  most  mischievous  tendencies 
are  called  into  action.  For  a  good  cause  suffers  much 
less  in  being  attacked  than  in  being  badly  defended." 
Yet,  not  only  are  the  avowed  protectionists  willing  for 
this  one-sided  trade,  but  some  of  the  most  prominent 
figures  in  the  so-called  free-trade  party  in  Canada,  as 
well  as  in  the  United  States,  are  advocates  of  such  a 
system. 

It  certainly  appears  obvious  enough,  that  an  extension 
of  freedom  as  to  the  importation  of  raw  materials  and  of 
food  necessaries,  gives  the  manufacturer  a  new  advan- 


THE  FARMER'S  INTEREST.  20I 

tage  in  producing  cheaply,  without,  in  the  least,  com- 
pelling him  to  sell  his  productions  at  lower  prices.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  evident  that  every  additional  article 
placed  upon  the  list  to  be  really  protected,  must,  in  a 
measure,  reduce  the  chances  for  the  monopolist  to  pocket 
monopoly  profits,  without  contributing  to  the  monopoly 
profits  of  others.  A  duty  which  raises  the  price  of  agri- 
cultural implements,  discourages  agriculture.  A  duty 
which  increases  the  price  of  agricultural  fertilizers,  dis- 
courages the  production  of  potatoes,  grains,  grasses,  etc. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  duty  which  increases  the  price  of 
raw  materials  and  food  necessaries,  discourages  the  man- 
ufacture of  cottons,  boots,  clothing,  hardware,  and  sugar 
refining  ;  but  why  should  these  manufactures  be  granted 
an  assurance  of  success  at  the  expense  of  the  farmer  ? 

The  protective  system  cannot  be  fair  all  round,  unless 
it  protects  all  round.  Though  it  is  perfectly  clear  that 
to  protect  all  round  is  to  increase  the  price  of  production 
all  round,  until  the  object  sought — the  building  up  of 
special  industries — is  defeated.  Moreover,  to  increase 
prices  all  round,  or  the  cost  of  general  production,  is  to 
destroy  the  chances  to  supply  foreign  consumers.  This 
latter  assumption  is  conspicuously  shown  in  the  continual 
decline  in  Canada's  exports  of  many  lines  of  manufac- 
ture since  the  adoption  of  her  high-tax  policy.  And  yet 
the  farmer  is  not  true  to  the  interests  of  his  class,  if  he 
does  not  demand  either  free  trade  all  round,  or  protection 
all  round. 

The  protectionists  can  hardly  contend  that  the  farmers 
are  benefited  by  being  permitted  to  import  some  lines 
of  food,  trees,  seeds,  etc.,  from  other  countries,  instead  of 
producing  these  themselves,  or  buying  them  at  protected 
prices  from  their  neighbors.     Though  no  doubt  all  are 

Q* 


202  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

benefited  when  the  consumers — and  all  are  consumers — 
are  permitted  to  procure  every  article  required,  from  the 
place  where  most  cheaply  produced.  For  if  the  manu- 
facturers find  it  is  profitable  to  rob  one  another  a  little, 
for  the  chance  to  rob  the  multitudes  a  good  deal,  why 
should  not  the  farmers,  or  any  of  the  cultivators  of  the 
soil,  find  it  equally  profitable  ? 

When  England,  in  her  old  protective  days,  sought  by 
this  means  to  serve  the  interests  of  her  farmers,  she  even 
prohibited  the  use  of  cotton  goods  at  one  time,  because 
their  use,  it  was  thought,  would  sacrifice  the  farmers' 
wool  industries.  It  might  be  asked,  why  allow  free 
cotton  to  come  into  Canada  to  interfere  with  the  con- 
sumption of  wool  in  the  manufacture  of  light  woollen 
goods  ?  Or,  why  not  force,  by  increase  of  protection, 
Canadian  consumers  of  grapes  to  depend  upon  her  own 
vineyards,  as  England  did  in  the  early  days  of  her  his- 
tory ?  Would  it  not  be  quite  as  much  within  the  scope 
of  reason,  as  the  efforts  which  are  being  put  forth  to 
stimulate  the  growth  of  many  of  her  highly  protected 
manufactures  ? 

Sydney  Smith's  description  of  the  tax  system  which 
prevailed  in  England  at  the  end  of  the  French  war,  pre- 
sents a  picture  of  an  ideal  condition  of  universal  taxa- 
tion, which  as  well  might  serve  the  purpose  of  an  ideal 
of  universal  protection  :  "  Taxes  upon  every  article 
which  enters  the  mouth,  or  covers  the  back,  or  is  placed 
under  the  feet.  Taxes  upon  every  thing  which  it  is 
pleasant  to  see,  hear,  feel,  smell,  or  taste.  Taxes  upon 
warmth,  locomotion,  light,  and  every  thing  that  comes 
from  abroad  or  is  grown  at  home.  Taxes  on  every  thing 
on  earth  or  under  the  earth.  Taxes  on  the  raw  material, 
taxes  on  every  fresh  value  that  is  added  to  it  by  the  in- 


THE  FARMER'S  INTEREST.  203 

dustry  of  man."  Certainly,  with  such  a  system,  few 
would  be  able  to  escape  the  privilege  of  at  least  paying 
taxes. 

The  great  difficulty,  however,  in  the  way  of  a  fair  deal 
in  a  policy  of  protection,  or  of  monopoly,  was  pointed 
out  by  Mr.  Stanley  Jevons.  "  There  would,"  remarked 
he,  "be  a  certain  fairness  in  the  establishment  of  monop- 
olies if  all  trades  were  equally  able  to  combine  and  tax 
each  other.  The  result,  of  course,  would  be  very  absurd 
and  very  pernicious,  but  it  would  be  equal  ;  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  however,  those  who  most  need  combination  to 
better  their  fortunes  are  just  those  who  are  the  least  able 
to  carry  it  out."  This  is  true  enough,  and  the  farmers 
of  Canada,  as  those  of  the  United  States,  are  among 
those  who  cannot  combine  either  under  free  trade  or 
protection  as  protection  is  administered.  After  all, 
what  do  wool  duties  amount  to  in  protecting  the  United 
States  farmer  ?  Measured  by  the  trade  and  navigation 
returns,  they  amount  annually  to  about  $1.70  per  farmer 
(his  whole  protection  amounting  to  not  more  than  $3.00 
per  capita).  Measured  in  the  same  way,  the  average 
manufacturer  gets  not  far  from  $100.  With  the  best 
that  can  be  done  for  him,  the  United  States  farmer  can 
get  but  the  merest  trifle  through  such  means. 

That  protection  to  the  Canadian  farmer  can  accom- 
plish little,  unless  each  province  or,  in  fact,  each  county 
could  be  made  a  protected  unit,  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  even  with  the  slight  duties  she  imposes  against  the 
import  of  farm  produce,  the  import  of  this  line  of  goods 
is  only  about  $1  to  $50  produced,  while  she  is  able  to 
export  %\  to  every  %\2  produced.  So  slight  is  the  ad- 
vantage which  the  Canadian  farmer  takes  of  the  little 
protection  allowed  him,  that  the  foreign  producer  makes 


204  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

but  slight  efforts  to  jump  over  it.  On  the  other  hand, 
notwithstanding  the  high-tariff  wall  placed  against  foreign 
manufactures,  $i  is  imported  to  each  $7  produced,  while 
the  home  market  for  manufactures  is  made  so  profitable 
to  the  home  producer,  by  reason  of  forced  tributes  from 
the  home  consumers,  that  less  than  ^i  finds  its  way  from 
the  country  to  the  $100  produced.' 

In  fact,  since  it  is  requisite  that  a  protected  area  be 
even  more  than  world-wide  in  extent,  to  save  the  farmer 
from  the  avarice  of  the  manufacturing  combines,  and 
extremely  small  to  be  of  any  service  in  enabling  farmers 
to  combine  for  their  advantage,  the  question  of  what  would 
be  a  just  and  equal  system  of  protection  seems  a  difficult 
problem  to  solve.  And  yet,  if  protection  is  to  be  the 
order  of  the  day,  it  is  the  protectionist  legislators'  duty 
to  devise  some  scheme  that  will  give  the  farmer  his  full 
share  of  advantages.^ 

The  miller  wants  %\  or  $1.50  per  barrel  duty  on  flour. 
His  right  is  just  as  good  to  20  per  cent,  protection  as 
that  of  the  manufacturer  of  shovels  to  35  per  cent,  and 
free  raw  materials.  The  pork-packer  wants  $4  per 
barrel  duty  on  pork.  He  has  as  good  a  right  to  it  as  the 
manufacturer  of  scythes  to  50  per  cent.,  and  so  has  the 
apple  producer  to  $1  per  barrel.  Only,  in  these  changes, 
the  farmers  should  see  that  an  undoubted  portion  of  the 
legalized  plunder  really  comes  into  their  hands. ^ 

'  Measured  by  Canada's  trade  and  navigation  returns  in  terms  of 
money,  the  farmers  of  Canada  get  less  than  $1.10  protection  per 
capita,  the  manufacturers  more  than  $130  per  capita. 

^  When  an  effort  is  made  to  apply  protection  equitably,  it  is  then 
seen  what  a  fribble,  a  burlesque,  a  farce,  it  really  is. 

^  Not  a  few,  of  even  those  who  pass  for  free  traders,  contend  that 
only  articles  of  luxury  should  bear  taxes,  but  we  must  remember  that 
great  aggregates  of  capital  produced  through  a  whisky  or  a  cigar- 


THE   FARMER'S  INTEREST.  20$ 

If  free  trade  is  the  watchword,  then  let  it  be  for  free 
trade  all  round,  the  only  true  policy — a  watchword  for 
reform  that  means  the  extermination  of  a  vicious  system 
on  all  sides. 

When  England,  in  the  famous  free-trade  struggle, 
removed  or  lessened  the  duties  on  articles  of  food,  the 
same  was  done  by  foreign  manufactured  goods.  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  in  the  onset  of  the  great  parliamentary 
struggle  of  1846,  sounded  no  rallying  call  to  selfish  inter- 
ests. "  In  the  confidence,"  said  he,  "  that  the  principle 
for  which  I  contend  is  a  just  and  wise  one,  I  ask  all 
protected  interests  to  make  the  sacrifice,  if  it  be  a 
sacrifice,  which  the  application  of  that  principle  will 
render  necessary." 

Yet  there  are  in  England  to-day,  as  there  always  will 
be,  manufacturers  who  would  have  duties  put  upon  im- 
ported manufactures  ;  but  the  farmers  will  not  let  them. 
So  should  it  be  with  the  farmers  of  America. 

So  long  as  free  trade  goes  no  further  than  free  trade  in 
"natural  products  only,"  so  long  will  the  blight  to  the 
farming  interests  of  America  spread  and  increase — so 
long  will  the  farmer  continue  to  be  the  victim  of  the 
politician  and  the  manufacturer. 

manufacturing  monopoly,  fostered  by  indirect  taxation,  may  be  a  far 
greater  menace  to  the  general  good,  than  any  advantage  that  the 
farmers  can  possibly  gain  by  protection  from  the  consumers  of  their 
products. 


CHAPTER    III. 

FREE   TRADE    MAY    BE    SELFISH    AS   WELL   AS    PRO- 
TECTION ;    OR,   THE   INEFFICIENCY   OF 
FREE-TRADE    MOVEMENTS. 

In  working  out  our  ideas  of  justice  to  the  farmers  of 
America,  in  reference  to  the  matters  treated  of  in  the 
chapters  on  taxation,  and  on  free  trade  in  natural  products 
only,  we  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  it  is  quite  within 
the  range  of  possibility  for  what  passes  for  free  trade  to 
be  altogether  selfish  in  its  aims  ;  that  it  is  within  the 
scope  of  probability  that  compromises  will  any  day  be 
made,  as  they  have  been  in  the  past,  between  the  manu- 
facturers and  their  political  friends,  and  those  interested 
in  commerce  and  their  friends,  by  which  free  trade  will 
appear  to  have  scored  a  triumph  for  the  people,  though 
the  very  opposite  is  the  actual  result.  By  these  com- 
promises the  evils  of  protection  may  not  be  lessened  one 
iota,  or  the  load  of  taxation  be  removed  in  the  slightest 
degree  ;  may,  in  fact,  be  increased. 

Free-trade  movements,  to  be  successes,  must  take 
higher  grounds  than  they  have  done  hitherto  ;  they  must 
aim  at  justice  to  all ;  equality  in  the  benefits  of  the 
greater  freedom,  and  equality  in  the  bearings  of  taxation. 
These  are  the  matters  of  vital  interest  to  the  great 
majority  of  the  people.  The  commercial  questions  in- 
volved are  of  great  importance  ;    little,  however,  com- 

206 


INEFFICIENC  V  OF  FREE-  TRADE  MO  VEMENTS.     20/ 

pared  with  the  others  just  named.  Look  where  you  may 
over  America  to-day,  and  where  is  party  to  be  found 
standing  by  the  people  as  it  should  in  this  particular  ? 
Is  there  a  political  policy  working  which  offers  a  shadow 
of  hope  to  the  farmers  for  the  future  ?  All  that  is  before 
them  appears  little  else  than  the  selfish  outgrowth  of 
moneyed  and  partisan  interests,  and,  as  such,  must  be 
barren  of  results  favorable  to  the  people. 


BOOK  VII. 

THE    PHYSICAL,     MENTAL,     SOCIAL,      AND      MORAL 
CONSIDERATIONS    INVOLVED. 

But  the  wealth  of  a  nation  depends  in  the  long  run  upon  the  con- 
ditions, mental  and  bodily,  of  the  people  of  whom  it  consists,  and  the 
experience  of  all  mankind  declares  that  a  race  of  men  sound  in  soul 
and  limb  can  be  bred  and  reared  only  in  the  exercise  of  plough  and 
spade,  in  the  free  air  and  sunshine,  with  country  enjoyments  and 
amusements,  never  amidst  foul  drains  and  smoke  blacks  and  the 
eternal  clank  of  machinery. — James  Anthony  Froude. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  DIVERGENCE  OF  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT 

FROM   A   BASIS   OF   PHYSICAL   STAMINA, 

AND   ITS   CONSEQUENCES. 

The  men  who  figured  prominently  in  laying  the 
foundation  of  America's  political,  social,  and  industrial 
structure  were  no  weaklings.  They  were  men  of  nerve, 
muscle,  and  vitality.  Their  habits  and  exercises  were 
such  as  to  stimulate  the  growth  of  these  most  desirable 
functions.  The  claim  is  now  frequently  made  that  the 
majority  are  becoming  more  and  more  mental,  emotional, 
nerveless,  and  effeminate.  The  whole  tendency  of  the 
country's  varied  national  life  is  undoubtedly  in  the 
direction  of  increasing  in  the  characteristics  of  its  people 
these  most  undesirable  changes.  "  Functional  nervous 
disorders  "  are  increasingly  frequent  among  the  in-door 
classes  of  our  civilization  everywhere,  "  and  specially  so 
in  all  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States  of  America,  where 
the  sufferers  may  be  found  in  nearly  every  brain-working 
household."  '     It  may  indicate  a  future  far  from  happy. 

Much  as  we  may  differ  as  to  the  nature  of  mental 
faculties,  we  can,  with  a  considerable  degree  of  reliability, 
gather  data  from  which  to  prove  that  physical  perfection 
in  man  means  also  corresponding  completeness  of  brain 
power  ;  that  when  there  is  a  retrogression  in   the  first 

^  Dr.  George  W.  Beard. 


212  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

particular  eventually  there  must  also  be  one  in  the 
second.  In  all  great  movements  of  the  world,  in  the 
growth  of  nations,  or  in  great  crises,  it  has  been  the  men 
of  well-developed  physique  who  have  triumphed.  The 
men  of  Greece  took  sufficient  interest  in  the  tilling  of  the 
soil  to  make  it  a  first  medium  for  fostering  the  growth 
of  muscle  and  sinew.  They  practised  also  such  manly 
exercises  as  made  them  the  admiration  of  the  world,  as 
well  as  fitted  them  to  be,  as  they  were,  the  rulers  of  their 
time.  We  may  say  more  than  this  of  the  Roman,  whose 
national  industry,  in  their  palmy  days,  was  husbandry. 
The  brawny,  deep-chested  Englishman  and  the  sinewy 
Scotchman  have  made  themselves  masters  wherever  they 
have  planted  themselves. 

As  a  rule,  just  in  proportion  as  a  people  have  become 
effeminate  in  their  habits  and  exercises,  so  have  they 
degenerated  in  mental  capacity.  Observations  have 
proved  that  the  great  man  is  more  likely  to  be  greater 
in  stature,  more  symmetrically  proportioned,  and  of  more 
pleasing  physical  appearance  than  his  contemporaries  ; 
while  such  a  one  will  be  governed  by  a  brain  of  full 
physical  development.'  Science  also  claims,  with  good 
reason,  that  wherever  a  proper  equilibrium  has  been 
maintained  through  a  due  exercise  of  the  physical  and 
mental  functions,  there  the  tendency  has  been  towards  a 
constant  improvement  in  the  types  of  men.  And  when 
the  reverse  has  been  the  case,  there  has  been  experi- 
enced a  marked  deterioration.  Says  Herbert  Spencer  : 
"  Each  function  has  some  relation,  direct  or  indirect,  to 
the  needs  of  life.  Then  the  complete  life  is  one  in  which 
all  functions  are  exercised  to  their  normal  capacity,  and 
this  can  only  take  place  in  the  physically  developed  man." 

'  Dr.  Woods  Hutchinson. 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT.  213 

It  follows  that,  as  few,  if  any,  occupations  are  better 
calculated  to  develop  the  physical  structure  than  work 
upon  the  soil,  and  at  the  same  time  offer  a  limitless  field 
for  the  most  useful  as  well  as  the  most  pleasurable 
mental  training,  we  must  conclude  that  the  farmer,  of  all 
others,  should  have  a  healthy,  enduring  brain.  In  fact, 
his  occupation  should  offer  the  medium  through  which 
the  highest  development  of  the  physical  and  mental  may 
be  united  in  force  for  the  production  of  the  perfectly 
developed  man. 

"  Once  let  the  human  race  be  cut  off  from  personal 
contact  with  the  soil  ;  once  let  the  conventionalities  and 
artificial  restrictions  of  so-called  civilization  interfere 
with  the  healthful  simplicity  of  nature,  and  decay  is 
certain."  ' 

Consequently,  how  immensely  important  may  be  our 
dependence  upon  rural  life — the  farmer's  well-developed 
brain — for  supplying  whatever  may  be  true  and  satisfying 
in  our  present  condition,  and  also  for  the  continuance  of 
civilization  itself  ! 

Therefore,  since  science  and  the  history  of  the  growth 
and  development  of  nations  testify  to  the  vast  importance 
of  physical  completeness  as  a  basis  of  brain  power,  and 
that  farm  life  is  most  conducive  to  this  end,  we  require  a 
numerous  body  of  tillers  of  the  soil  to  supply  our 
national  brain   capacity. 

The  fable  of  "  Tellus,  the  Giant  Son  of  the  Earth,"  in 
his  valiant  struggle  with  Hercules,  and  his  final  defeat 
when  deprived  of  contact  with  his  "  mother  earth,"  is 
certainly  a  striking  parable  of  the  condition  of  the  human 
family  when  the  vast  majority  take  no  part  in  rural  pur- 
suits and  the  manly  exercises.  The  Prince  of  Darkness 
'  Dr.  Woods  Hutchinson. 


214  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

could  take  no  better  course  to  defeat  man's  progress  and 
subdue  the  earth  to  himself,  than  by  depriving  one  after 
another  of  intimate  contact  with  their  mother,  the  earth. 

If  it  be  health  that  is  desired  for  the  people  (taking 
another  view  of  the  subject),  compare  a  procession  of 
cotton  operatives  pouring  out  of  a  cotton-mill  in  Law- 
rence and  Lowell,  with  an  equal  number  of  farmers'  sons 
and  daughters  as  they  are  found  in  our  country,  and 
we  will  see  nothing  in  the  former  of  physical  appearance 
to  cause  us  to  wish  that  the  rural  classes  may  become 
manufacturers. 

In  1886,  there  was  published  in  Massachusetts  an  in- 
teresting collection  of  facts  relative  to  the  average  dura- 
tion of  life  among  the  several  occupations,  covering  a 
period  of  more  than  thirty  years.  The  average  farmer 
died  at  dd  years  of  age,  the  judge  at  64,  lawyers  at  56, 
physicians  at  55,  sheriffs  and  policemen  at  52,  while 
milliners  and  factory  girls  died  at  39,  clerks  and  book- 
keepers at  36,  and  plumbers  and  carvers  at  35.  In 
the  same  year  (1886),  Dr.  C.  W.  Chancoles,  in  a  paper 
read  before  the  American  Public-Health  Association, 
stated  that  stone-cutters,  both  in  Europe  and  America, 
on  an  average,  do  not  live  beyond  id  years,  while  knife 
and  file  grinders  die  at  35,  edge-tool  grinders  at  32,  razor 
grinders  at  31,  and  grinders  of  forks  at  29.  Of  the  100 
sick,  of  the  various  manufacturing  industries,  the  pro- 
portion of  consumptives  is  quite  suggestive  :  carpenters 
14,  cigarmakers  36,  stone-cutters  ^d,  steel  grinders  40, 
brush-makers  49,  cotton,  hemp,  and  flax  Aveavers  60  ;  file- 
makers  62,  needle-makers  70. 

With  such  facts  as  these  for  guidance,  both  statesmen 
and  people  should  pause  before  tempting  the  young  of 
the  rural  classes  to  the  manufacturing  occupations.     A 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT.  21  5 

week  in  the  year  does  not  pass  that  the  remains  of  human 
beings,  below  the  meridian  of  life,  are  not  conveyed  from 
the  great  manufacturing  centres  to  their  early  homes  in 
the  rural  districts  ;  stricken  down  just  as  they  should  be 
entering  on  the  most  useful  efforts  of  their  lives.  While 
one  after  another  is  guided  back  to  the  country  settle- 
ments in  the  United  States,  others  go  to  their  sorrowing 
relatives  in  the  Provinces,  some  to  Quebec,  others  to 
Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  and  not  a  few  to  the 
little  Island  of  the  Gulf.  Many  of  these  leave  behind 
them  children  in  tender  years,  to  become,  perhaps,  a 
burden  upon  the  old  grandparents  ;  or  worse,  to  drift 
into  the  slums  of  the  cities,  to  be  lost  in  vice.  Go  into  a 
careful  analysis  of  the  causes  which  have  tempted  the 
young  country  people  away  from  their  rural  homes  in 
Canada,  to  seek  new  ones  in  the  Great  Republic  (a  popu- 
lar subject  for  discussion),  and  in  the  majority  of  cases 
it  will  be  found  that  it  has  not  been  from  a  desire  to 
change  their  political  allegiance,  or  because  of  the  laws 
of  their  country,  that  they  have  fled  from  it,  so  much  as 
from  a  desire  to  change  their  occupation.  The  effects  of 
the  false  politico-economic  teachings  of  the  time  had 
reached  them,  and  had  rendered  them  incapable  of 
appreciating  the  merits  of  their  occupation.  From  the 
politician,  the  manufacturer,  and  even  the  college  pro- 
fessor, they  were  told  that  an  agricultural  people  could 
never  become  great,  and  this  poisoned  their  minds  and 
unsettled  them.  They  learned  from  these  authorities 
that  it  was  beneath  a  people  of  spirit  to  cultivate  pota- 
toes, and  to  tend  the  dairy,  especially  with  a  view  of 
supplying  foreign  customers  with  the  productions  from 
them  ;  and  they  took  the  most  speedy  way  of  casting  off 
such  an  occupation. 


2l6  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

Though  our  city  cousins  may  still  be  a  good  deal  prone 
to  look  upon  their  rustic  relations  as  rather  stupid  and 
unintellectual,  it  is  well  for  them  to  know  that  natural 
conditions  are  all  on  the  side  of  the  countryman.  And 
certainly  the  countryman  should  realize  more  fully  what 
are  his  possibilities.  The  feeling  which  generally  pre- 
vails, however,  makes  it  preposterous  for  even  the  lead- 
ing farmers  of  America  to  think  of  taking  a  place  in 
society  with  the  equally  prosperous  of  other  classes. 

In  business  concerns  we  have  regular  meetings  of  our 
Board  of  Trade,  in  all  our  great  commercial  centres,  to 
which  it  is  not  at  all  uncommon  for  lawyers,  doctors, 
manufacturers,  and  newspaper  editors  to  be  invited  to 
take  part  in  debating  questions  that  may  affect  the  rural 
classes  most  deeply.  But  when  are  farmers  requested 
to  become  members  of  these  societies,  or  to  give  their 
views  on  the  matters  discussed  ?  It  is  true,  that  the 
Grange  organizations — societies  which  should  have  a 
welcome  in  every  rural  district — are  beginning  to  give 
the  farmer  some  prominence  ;  through  this  medium,  he 
should  voice  his  sentiments  and  desires  with  effect.  Yet 
the  farmer  is  considered  rather  out  of  his  senses,  when 
he  presumes  to  match  his  intellectual  faculties  with 
others  ;  and,  in  fact,  his  want  of  success  is  frequently 
attributed  to  his  lack  of  ability. 

Have  not  the  majority  of  our  most  able  and  useful 
public  men,  in  all  the  walks  of  life,  been  bred  on  the  farm  ? 
Are  not  our  most  advanced  institutions  of  learning  pro- 
vided with  their  brightest  intellects  from  the  country 
families  ?  We  think  few  will  undertake  to  deny  this 
claim  for  the  country.  Said  Emerson  :  "  The  great  men 
are  not  in  the  halls  triumphing,  but  in  the  fields  work- 
ing.   .    .    .  The  city  is  recruited  from  the  country.  .    .   . 


INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT.  ZIJ 

The  city  would  have  died  out,  rotted,  and  exploded  long 
ago,  unless  it  were  recruited  from  the  country."  The 
city  of  to-day  was  the  country  of  yesterday. 

The  tendency  of  the  time  is  evidently  in  the  direction 
of  constantly  decreasing  the  number  of  those  who  have 
effectual  contact  with  the  soil,  and  increasing  the  num- 
ber who  would  be  mere  parasites  upon  those  who  re- 
main, reducing  the  worst  victimized  to  the  mere  exercise 
of  their  animal  powers.  It  is  quite  frequently  contended 
by  students  of  ethnology,  that  slavery  was  a  necessity  of 
early  times,  in  order  that  a  few  might  be  enabled  to  have 
the  leisure  necessary  for  thought  and  for  mental  growth. 
To-day,  all  kinds  of  devices  are  set  on  foot  to  tempt  the 
tillers  of  the  soil  into  permitting  others  to  do  their 
thinking  for  them.  They,  in  effect  say  :  "  You  work 
and  I  think." 

While  the  farmer's  income  is  not  increased,  most  other 
classes  combine  and  force  an  increase  of  theirs.  They 
tell  us  that  mental  giants  must  not  be  forced  to  do  man- 
ual labor,  and  that  mental  workers  must  have  all  the  edu- 
cating influences  possible  at  their  disposal,  and  if  their 
services  are  procured,  the  recompense  must  be  com- 
mensurate with  a  satisfaction  of  these  conditions  ;  which 
amounts  to  this,  that  those  who  in  most  cases  have  to 
meet  these  conditions  must  work  a  little  harder,  with  the 
hope  that  eventually  an  indirect  benefit  will  follow.  For 
instance,  our  governments  in  effect  are  great  armies  of 
parasites,  which  are  continually  creating  some  new  plan 
for  making  places  for  additions  to  their  numbers.  That 
these  new  ones  may  be  supported,  the  supporting  class 
must  work  a  little  harder,  and  have,  for  satisfaction,  the 
consoling  assurance  that  a  new  batch  has  been  created 
to  do  their  thinking. 


2l8  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

Granted  that  there  may  have  been  a  necessity  in  prim- 
itive times  for  a  portion  of  the  human  family  to  gain 
opportunities  for  thought,  have  not  the  conditions 
changed,  when  cunning  must  be  resorted  to  to  effect 
this  object  ?  Is  it  true  that  workers  cannot  think,  and 
that  thinkers  cannot  work  ?  Is  not  the  outcome  of  sucli  a 
condition  to  create,  on  one  side,  indolent,  enervated 
thinkers  ;  and  on  the  other  side,  only  working  machines, 
who  have  bartered  away  their  right  to  think — they  who 
should  be  in  mind,  as  well  as  in  body,  as  great  as  any  of 
God's  creatures  ? 

It  is  well  that  we  should  have  our  mental  giants  ;  but 
those  who  have  become  the  greatest  in  this  way  have 
been  self-supporting,  self-sacrificing  men.  There  is 
danger  in  the  sweeping  away  of  the  grand  opportunities 
for  a  union  of  the  mental  and  physical  forces  which  rural 
life  offers.  Shall  our  cities,  like  the  rotted-out  civiliza- 
tions of  old,  swell  to  overflowing  with  the  indigent,  the 
idle,  and  the  voluptuous  ?  Shall  the  edict  again  go  forth 
— "  You  kill  while  I  eat ;  you  work  while  I  think," — and 
the  freemen  again  depend  upon  martial  exercise  and  the 
slaughtering  of  men  for  the  stimulation  of  physical  de- 
velopment ? 

With  all  that  is  being  done  through  inventions  for  the 
saving  of  labor  and  the  utilization  of  natural  forces,  there 
should  be  an  ever  increasing  margin  for  mental  exercise. 
It  is  only  a  true  condition  which  favors  this,  and  it  is 
only  a  true  condition  which  finds  these  necessary  proofs 
of  progress  dispersed  through  the  whole  people  ;  and  it 
is  only  a  true  condition  where  all  who  are  able  bear  some- 
thing of  labor  for  their  physical  benefit,  if  for  no  other. 
Emerson  thought  the  ideal  condition  one  in  which  man 
was  enabled  to  have  the  detachment  and  the  individuality 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT.  219 

which  is  only  possible  in  the  country,  with  the  intel- 
lectual stimulus  which  is  only  possible  in  the  city.  But 
this  union  of  forces  can  only  have  healthy  and  enduring 
development  where  a  basis  of  physical  stamina  is  in- 
sured, and  this  basis  is  in  the  country.  Then  we  must 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  whatever  tends  to  make  one 
great  division  of  the  human  family  exclusively  brain- 
workers,  and  another  great  division  exclusively  manual 
laborers,  is  producing  a  false  and  dangerous  condition. 

It  is  a  grave  mistake  for  the  farmers  of  America  to 
concede  to  the  idea  that  the  rural  classes  are  peculiar  for 
lack  of  ability,  or  to  allow  the  results  of  their  industry 
to  be  valued  merely  as  the  product  of  so  much  animal 
exertion  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  should  emphatically 
maintain  that  they  represent  an  intelligent,  a  dignified 
occupation. 

It  is  an  error  to  permit,  as  we  do,  the  curricula  of  our 
institutions  of  learning,  especially  of  those  where  the 
majority  of  the  pupils  attending  are  supposed  to  become 
agriculturists,  to  be  almost  void  of  branches  which  are 
calculated  to  create  an  interest  in  agriculture,  and  to 
ennoble  the  calling  in  the  minds  of  the  young. 

"  As  it  is  at  present,  in  thousands  of  our  country 
schools,  the  instruction  is  wholly  apart  from  the  actual 
life  of  the  scholars.  The  teaching  is  a  weary  round  of 
book  studies,  and  the  wealth  of  practical  instruction  that 
is  to  be  gained  by  a  proper  consideration  of  the  every- 
day life  and  natural  surroundings  of  children  is  entirely 
missed.  Besides  turning  the  young  mind  in  the  direction 
of  agriculture,  such  instruction  in  the  common  schools 
would  tend  to  increase  the  inborn  love  of  the  soil,  and  sow 
the  germs  of  State  and  national  pride  and  patriotism." ' 
'  American  Agriculturist,  October,  1889. 


220  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

It  is  also  very  far  from  wise  for  farmers  themselves, 
as  it  is  also  for  the  general  safety,  to  allow  the  opinion 
to  prevail  that  they  are  unfit  to  grace  our  legislative 
halls  or  to  put  character  into  our  laws.  Mr.  Gladstone 
saySvOf  the  statesmen  of  the  early  history  of  the  United 
States  :  "  It  is  no  extravagance  to  say  that,  although 
there  were  only  three  millions  of  people  in  the  thirteen 
States  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  the  group  of  states- 
men that  proceeded  from  them  were  a  match  for  any  in 
the  whole  history  of  the  world,  and  were  superior  to 
those  of  any  one  epoch.  Their  fortunate  appearance  was 
undoubtedly  due  to  well-regulated  muscular  freedom." 

It  is  a  calamity  for  society  to  be  governed  by  physical 
weaklings,  with  less  and  less  brain  capacity,  who  may 
become  finally,  as  the  monarchs  of  Europe  were  said  to 
have  been  at  the  beginning  of  the  century — imbecile. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  FARMERS'  INTEREST  IN  THE  SOCIAL  OUTLOOK. 

We  may  disinter  the  vanished  draperies,  we  may  revive  the 
stately  minuet,  we  may  rehabilitate  the  old  scenes,  but  the  march  of  a 
century  cannot  be  halted  or  reversed,  and  the  enormous  change  in 
the  situation  can  neither  be  disguised  nor  ignored.  Then  we  were, 
though  not  all  of  us,  sprung  from  one  nationality,  practically  one 
people.  Now  that  steadily  deteriorating  process,  against  whose 
dangers  a  great  thinker  of  our  own  generation  warned  his  country- 
men just  fifty  years  ago,  goes  on  on  every  hand  apace." 

— Bishop  Potter. 

Probably, the  most  far-reaching  problem  before  the 
public  mind  in  America  to-day  is  the  vexed  question  of 
social  rights.  Whether  we  have  presented  to  our  con- 
sideration the  difficulties  existing  between  labor  and 
capital,  the  distribution  of  land,  the  matter  of  public 
instruction,  or  the  formation  of  fiscal  policies,  we  have 
in  some  measure  to  deal  with  an  important  phase  of  the 
social  question.  Nearly  every  important  movement  in 
industrial  and  social  life  has  much  to  do  with  this  truly 
great  matter  ;  and  it  might  be  stated,  with  little  proba- 
bility of  contradiction,  that  at  few  former  periods  has 
this  problem  been  subjected  to  such  varied  and  urgent 
notice  as  it  is  now  receiving.  America  is  not  now  very 
much  behind  the  rest  of  the  world  in  furnishing  material 
for  the  study  of  these  matters  ;  and  the  old  maritime 
States  of  the  northeast  of  the  Union,  in  a  marked  de- 


222  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

gree,  furnish  a  history  of  social  changes  of  very  great 
interest,  especially  as  it  relates  to  the  rural  classes. 
If  we  look  for  a  locality  where  the  development  of 
industrial  progress,  with  all  the  attendant  social  con- 
sequences which  industrial  progress  implies,  should,  in 
its  growth,  correspond  with  the  ideal  of  at  least  one 
great 'school,  and,  in  fact,  in  line  with  the  general  trend 
of  the  economic  thought  of  the  day  in  America,  we 
instinctively  turn  to  those  old  maritime  States.  Their 
social  history  will,  in  relation  to  political  economy,  serve 
to  a  great  extent  as  an  index  to  the  whole  question  in 
America.  Is  it  satisfactory  to  any  thoughtful  mind  ? 
While  it  will  be  generally  admitted  that  half  a  century 
ago  the  average  ruralist  of  New  England  was  an  enviable 
type  of  citizen,  that  his  social,  financial,  and  political 
influence  was  a  power  in  his  country,  that  he  was  ac- 
knowledged on  all  sides  to  be  a  reliable,  intelligent,  and 
weighty  authority  on  all  political,  economic,  and  social 
questions,  and  that  his  influence  extended  even  to  other 
countries,  few  make  this  claim  for  him  to-day.  The 
opinion  that  in  character,  ability,  and  enterprising  spirit, 
the  farmer  of  New  England  is  losing  ground,  is  expressed 
in  the  works  of  nearly  every  writer  upon  the  condition 
of  the  farmers  of  those  States. 

One  writer  very  pertinently  remarks  :  "  There  was  a 
time  when  New  England  was  looked  upon  as  a  sort 
of  reservoir  of  the  true  American  spirit  ;  when  she  sent 
her  sons  and  her  daughters  out  from  the  towns  to  be 
teachers  to  the  rest  of  the  hation,  and  to  found  new 
towns  in  the  West  ;  when  New  England  spirit  seemed 
to  be  a  leaven,  leavening  all  the  national  life.  .  .  .  All 
this  is  changed."  '    Certainly  it  is  not  in  the  farmers  alone, 

'  Mr.  Geoffrey  Chaplin,  in  the  North  American  Review. 


THE   FARMERS'    SOCIAL    OUTLOOK.  223 

there  is  to  be  noticed  the  loss  of  Puritan  character  and 
true  American  spirit,  though  in  them,  in  the  fullest  meas- 
ure, dwelt  these  characteristics.  And  they  were  teachers 
to  the  rest  of  the  nation,  because  in  them  rested  a  posi- 
tive realization  of  the  fact  that  it  devolved  upon  them  to 
infuse  their  spirit  into  all  measures  for  the  political, 
moral,  intellectual,  and  industrial  progress  of  their  coun- 
try. It  was  their  country,  their  land,  and  they  esteemed 
their  privileges  and  their  achievements,  as  became  an 
independent  and  truly  sovereign  people.  They  honored 
and  highly  valued  the  result  of  honest  labor,  and  of  rural 
labor  above  all  others.  The  "  country  squire  "  could 
talk  politics  with  lively  interest  to  the  best  man  in  the 
community,  and  the  best  man  was  very  likely  to  be  his 
near  neighbor,  because  the  politics  of  his  time  were 
to  him  of  practical  significance.  He  was  sensible  of 
a  perceptible  result  in  his  efforts  to  influence  the  fashion- 
ing of  laws  and  the  course  of  law-makers.  They  had 
not  reached  out,  as  now,  beyond  him.' 

'  Since  my  monograph  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  its  publishers, 
the  following  interesting  editorial  remarks  upon  an  article  of  Judge 
Nott's  has  appeared  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post :  "  No  other 
such  body  of  cultivators  of  the  soil  as  the  New  England  colonists 
were,  down  to  our  own  day,  has  ever  been  seen.  No  other  men  who 
tilled  the  ground  with  their  own  hands  have  had  such  an  acute  and 
active  intelligence,  such  intense  preoccupation  \\ith  religious  and 
moral  problems,  such  a  keen  sense  of  the  superior  importance  of 
spiritual  things,  such  reverence  for  learning,  such  familiarity  with 
and  appreciation  of  literature,  and  such  capacity  for  government  by 
discussion.  Puritanism,  as  has  often  been  said,  missed  its  mark 
in  England  ;  but  it  came  as  near  realizing  its  ideal  as  human  nature 
would  permit  on  American  soil.  No  student  of  politics  or  sociology 
will,  in  all  probability,  for  ages  to  come,  light  on  an  experiment  in 
all  respects  so  interesting  and  so  successful  as  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  were  and  continued  to  be  down  to  the 'tjutbreak  of  the 


224  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

It  is,  notwithstanding,  a  great  mistake  that  the  farmers 
of  New  England  do  not  compare  well  with  the  average 
citizen  in  all  that  goes  to  make  up  the  invaluable  portion 
of  the  commonwealth.  Especially  is  this  the  case,  as  we 
look  at  the  matter  from  the  standpoints  of  morality,  re- 
ligion, or  social  order.  Social  safety  is  with  the  citizen 
who  possesses  a  desire  to  preserve  his  country's  institu- 
tions and  her  political  integrity.  The  farmers,  sprung 
from  the  loins  of  the  stock  which  shaped  their  country's 
early  life,  must,  of  all,  be  her  truest  patriots  ;  whereas 
the  ignorant,  shifting,  migrating  classes,  of  which  the 
American  cities  are  becoming  largely  composed,  have 
cast  off  their  patriotic  sentiments,  if  they  ever  had  any. 
In  them  is  danger,  now  and  always.  Forty-seven  per 
cent,  of  the  population  of  the  cities  and  factory  towns 
of    Massachusetts   in     1885    were   foreign-born  ;    while 

civil  war.  The  only  important  point  in  the  catastrophe,  which  Judge 
Nott  does  not  attempt  to  explain,  or  even  to  touch  upon,  is  the 
equanimity,  and  even  rejoicing,  with  which  the  New  England 
farmers  have  witnessed  the  disappearance  of  the  social  edifice  which 
they  had  passed  two  centuries  in  building  up,  and  cementing  with  an 
enormous  amount  of  religious  zeal  and  self-sacrifice.  For  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  New  Englanders  have,  through  their  organs, 
in  politics,  in  literature,  and  oratory,  eagerly  supported  the  policy 
which  was  visibly  and  rapidly  changing  the  character  of  their  popula- 
tion and  the  structure  of  their  society.  The  most  ardent  advocates 
and  promoters  of  '  the  factory  at  your  doors,'  with  its  swarm  of 
foreign-born  voters,  have  been  New  England  men.  They  have  seen 
it  rapidly  and  surely  converting  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  into 
foreign,  and  even  into  Catholic  States,  ousting  the  natives  of  the 
Puritan  stock  from  all  real  influence  in  the  government,  and  consign- 
ing to  the  lumber-room  of  history  the  old  Puritan  traditions  of  public 
spirit  and  public  duty,  and  have  seen  it  sending  all  their  boys  and 
girls  flying  into  the  cities  and  to  the  West,  without  a  protest  or  even 
a  word  of  complaint."     December  5,  1889. 


THE  FARMERS'    SOCIAL    OUTLOOK.  22$ 

only  23  per  cent,  of  the  agriculturists  of  the  State  were 
so  born. 

In  the  older  provinces  of  Canada  the  farmers  compose 
as  fine  a  class  of  men  as  are  to  be  found  anywhere.  They 
form  the  best  law-abiding,  industrious,  moral  forces  of 
the  confederacy. 

Yet,  with  the  decline  of  American  agriculture,  and 
the  diminution  of  the  number  of  the  small  land  pro- 
prietors, dangers  to  the  social  order  and  the  security 
of  the  state  must  be  more  and  more  augmented  as  the 
evil  goes  on.  The  first  impetus  towards  social  insecurity 
may  now  be  seen  in  the  dissatisfaction  which  is  growing 
among  farmers  because  of  their  relative  disadvantages. 
The  second  is  rapidly  approached  when  legislators  begin 
to  consider  favorably  the  policy  of  repeopling  the  old 
country  towns  with  foreign  stock,  in  place  #f  removing 
the  difficulties  which  are  driving  the  old  families  away. 
The  third  danger  is  the  relative  decline  in  the  number  of 
those  who  should  have  direct  interest  in  preserving  the 
institutions  of  the  country. 

It  is  no  doubt  too  true,  that  the  farms  and  the  villages 
of  New  England  are  no  longer  the  nurseries  of  the  type 
of  "  earnest  thinkers  and  patient  workers "  that  they 
once  were  ;  while  it  is  true  that  there  is  a  growing  unrest 
among  the  rural  classes,  because  of  the  changes  which 
oppress  them.  It  is  also  conspicuously  apparent  that  it 
is  the  exception  to  find  farmers  who  look  forward  with 
pride  to  fitting  their  sons  for  an  occupation  which,  as 
they  must  believe,  is  every  day  losing  ground  in  social 
rank.  New  England,  being  the  oldest  English  commu- 
nity in  America,  or  the  one  most  ripened  in  development, 
shows  these  changes  more  conspicuously  than  other 
parts.    But  is  it  not  a  disease  which  is  spreading  rapidly  ? 


226  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

The  merest  glance  at  the  subject  is  sufficient  to  show 
that  the  whole  world  is  growing  gregarious  with  alarming 
rapidity  ;  that  the  rural  life  is  viewed  with  more  and 
more  aversion.  The  cities  of  France — an  old  country — 
in  1S48  represented  34  per  cent,  of  the  entire  popula- 
tion ;  a  proportion,  however,  which  grew  to  ^y^  per  cent, 
in  1886.  Beautiful  rural  France,  with  all  its  charms, 
then,  fails  to  retain  its  due  proportion  of  the  people. 
Germany,  since  1867,  has  increased  her  urban  popula- 
tion at  the  rate  of  a  little  over  i|  per  cent,  per  annum  ; 
the  rural  population  in  the  same  period  increased  at  the 
rate  of  only  \  per  cent,  per  annum.  In  parts  of  rural- 
Italy,  every  means  is  being  devised  by  the  farmer  to  ex- 
change country  for  city  life.  But  of  all  the  world  this 
tendency  is  more  marked  in  America  than  elsewhere. 
Had  the  in^ease  of  persons  engaged  in  agriculture,  in 
the  decade  ending  with  1880,  been  equal  to  the  average 
entire  increase  of  population,  there  would  have  been 
42,341  more  engaged  in  this  pursuit  than  were  so  found. 
In  the  same  period,  1,147,977  represented  the  propor- 
tional increase  of  those  in  the  professional  services, 
trade,  transportation,  mining,  manufacturing,  and  me- 
chanical pursuits.  The  same  movements  are  taking 
place  in  Canada.  Of  the  province  of  Nova  Scotia,  we 
find  that  in  the  period  1861-81,  the  agricultural  class 
fell  behind  the  professional  and  trading  classes,  in  pro- 
portional increase,  over  20,000. 

The  cities  and  city  occupations  are  evidently  drawing 
the  people  to  themselves.  In  1790,  the  urban  population 
of  the  United  States  was  only  'i.'^  per  cent,  of  the  total ; 
in  1850,  12.5  per  cent.  ;  but  in  18S0  it  had  reached  22.5 
per  cent.  The  Canadian  census  returns  for  1881  re- 
ported an  increase  of  33.0  per  cent,  in  the  growth  of  the 


THE   FARMERS'    SOCIAL    OUTLOOK.  22/ 

urban  population  during  the  decade  of  which  it  treated  ; 
while  the  growth  of  the  rural  population  had  only  been 
15.6  per  cent.  The  cities  of  the  United  States  having 
over  8,000  inhabitants  in  1790  contained  but  one  thir- 
tieth of  the  population  ;  in  1880  they  contained  one 
fourth.  In  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  with  all  her 
markets  created  by  a  manufacturing  population,  her  rural 
denizens  decreased  by  37,000  in  the  years  1860-85.  In 
the  first-named  year,  she  had  a  rural  population  of  698,- 
261  ;  in  1870,  677,601  ;  in  1880,  672,462  ;  while  in  1885 
it  had  fallen  to  661,588.  In  1789  the  cities  of  this  State 
contained  5  per  cent,  of  the  population  ;  in  1885,  66f 
per  cent. 

Recently  the  Toronto  Empire  (Conservative)  spoke, 
through  its  columns  devoted  to  agricultural  matters,  to 
this  effect  :  "  Everywhere  on  the  continent,  east  of  the 
Mississippi  at  any  rate,  the  drift  during  the  past  ten  to 
thirty  years  has  been  from  the  country  to  the  towns  and 
cities  .  .  .  This  continent  is  rapidly  approaching  the 
condition  of  Europe,  where  the  city  populations  are  far 
too  large  for  the  rural  populations  that  sustain  them." 
Yes,  sustain  them  !  Our  cities  fill  up  with  unnecessary 
government  officials,  or  those  who,  by  combinations,  are 
enabled  to  increase  their  numbers  through  gathering 
to  themselves  a  margin  between  service  rendered  and 
service  received.  Two  perform  a  service  that  should 
require  but  one.  The  victim  who  receives  it  has  double 
service  to  perform  in  return.  Why  should  he  not  make 
his  escape  from  such  enslavement,  if  possible  ?  Prior  to 
the  fall  of  the  Roman  and  Grecian  republics,  the  cities 
were  filled  to  overflowing,  and  nearly  every  free  citizen 
had  fled  from  the  country.  "  The  cities  increased  i^ 
splendor  from  day  to  day,  and  from  age  to  age.     Temples 


228  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

were  ever  being  erected  of  greater  magnificence  than  any 
heretofore.  Theatres  were  made  still  more  and  more 
attractive  for  the  free  exhibition  of  gladiatorial  and  other 
depraving  f.ghts.  With  all  this,  depopulation  and  poverty 
went  on  in  the  country,  until  disease  spread  throughout 
all  the  vital  organs  of  society,  and  then  the  whole  system 
collapsed."  '  What  course  will  our  rural  classes  take 
when  they  come  to  feel  that  all  escape  from  this  enslave- 
ment may  be  cut  off  ? 

The  New  World,  as  well  as  the  Old,  echoes  and  re- 
echoes with  the  threatenings  of  the  social  revolutionist  ; 
and  we  are  not  alone  in  the  opinion  that  republics  and 
democracies  may  not  be,  under  certain  conditions,  any 
more  safe  than  monarchies  from  the  machinations  of  the 
socialist.^  He  reasons  :  What  abiding  profit  is  the 
proclamation  that  all  are  equal,  when  gross  inequality  is 
allowed  to  go  on  gathering  new  elements  of  oppression  ? 
"What  can  be  expected,  when  the  sole  aim  of  government 
is  to  foster  such  institutions  as  promise  solely  to  increase 
riches  and  population  ?  To  give  stability  to  law  and 
national  life,  the  social  ideal  should  be  character."  '  The 
governments  of  America  lend  their  influence  to  building 
up  populous  industrial  centres,  the  citizens  of  which  are 
a  danger  to  the  social  fabric.     Lord  Macaulay's  predic- 

'  Henry  C.  Carey. 

"^  As  this  chapter  is  being  prepared  for  publication,  news  comes 
from  Chicago  of  the  doings  of  a  mass-meeting  (October  13,  i88g),  at 
which,  in  the  presence  of  one  thousand  people,  of  whom,  the  account 
says,  over  one  half  hissed  at  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  while  the  banner 
of  Anarchy  was  greeted  with  cheers.  One  speaker  said  he  was  proud 
of  the  city  in  which  the  execution  of  anarchists  occurred,  because 
he  felt  that  one  day  it  would  be  the  Paris — the  city  of  revolutions — 
(^m^merica. 

*  Bishop  Spalding. 


THE  FARMERS'    SOCIAL    OUTLOOK.  229 

tion,  that  the  American  Republic  may  yet  be  "ravaged  by 
Huns  and  Vandals,  engendered  within  itself  and  by  its 
own  laws,  and  by  its  own  institutions,"  has  not  lost  its 
significance. 

It  seems  imperative,  for  the  safety  of  a  democratic  coun- 
try, that  all  its  people  take  a  direct  interest  in  preserving 
its  institutions.  As  matters  are  going  in  America,  the 
proportion  of  those  who  are  not  so  interested  is  rapidly 
increasing.  While  we  extend  political  rights  to  all,  in 
some  communities,  and  propose  to  extend  them  in  others, 
we  increase  the  effectiveness  of  systems  which  are  caus- 
ing continual  accessions  to  the  ranks  of  those  who  at  any 
time  may  become  a  revolutionary  force.  How  long  un- 
der such  circumstances  before  the  rule  of  the  despot  will 
become  a  necessity  ?  It  was  a  direct  interest  in  protect- 
ing their  own,  which  stimulated  the  hardy  farmers  of  the 
Revolution  to  fight  so  well  for  their  land.  They  fought 
not  only  to  make  it  a  ''  land  of  liberty,"  but  their  land  of 
liberty.  "The  shocks  of  corn,"  said  Xenophon,  "  inspire 
those  who  have  raised  them,  to  defend  them." 

It  will  be  well,  however,  not  to  nurse  the  delusion  that 
socialistic  sentiments  are  destined  to  obtain  lodgment  in 
the  breasts  of  only  the  laborers  in  our  towns  and  manu- 
facturing centres.  They  are,  in  some  sort  of  shape,  rap- 
idly spreading  to  the  rural  districts.'     All  are  aware  of 

Mt  is  a  striking  coincidence,  that  while  the  first  President  of  the 
United  States  made  stronger  claims  than  any  of  his  successors  for  the 
interests  of  agriculture,  and  for  its  value  in  civilization,  the  President 
who  leaves  office  in  the  centennial  year  of  the  inauguration  of  the  first, 
should  feel  called  upon  in  his  last  message  to  Congress,  to  sound  an 
alarm  at  the  unsatisfactory  position  of  agriculture  in  this  latter  day. 
Mr.  Cleveland  looks  with  apprehension  to  the  time  when  the  farmers, 
among  others,  will,  realizing  the  inequality  and  injustice  under  which 
they  labor,  breed  a  discontent  dangerous  to  the  lieneficent  operation  of 


230  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

the  agitations  in  Ireland,  and  other  parts  of  Great  Britain, 
over  the  land  question.  In  Germany,  Bismarck's  social- 
istic measures  for  the  assumed  benefit  of  the  working 
classes  have  failed  to  satisfy  the  farmers.  In  France, 
these  sentiments  gain  ground  in  the  rural  districts.  The 
peasantry  of  Russia,  Spain,  and  Italy  are  on  the  verge  of 
revolt.  In  parts  of  Italy  they  have  already  shown  their 
hand.  In  1882,  and  again  in  1888  Lombardy  was  the 
scene  of  serious  disturbances  among  the  rural  classes  ; 
buildings  were  burned,  and  various  crimes  committed. 
Official  reports  state  that  "  it  will  require  energetic 
measures  to  combat  these  fermentations." 

Collectivism,  land  nationalization,  and  other  socialistic 
schemes  are  proposed  to  remedy  all  our  social  ills.  These 
grow  in  favor  as  capital  continues  to  rob  the  small  hold- 
ers of  their  land.  In  Mantua,  a  province  in  Italy,  between 
187 1  and  1879,  land  proprietors  had  decreased  from  39,- 
868  to  35,535.  The  peasant  in  many  cases  holds  on  to  his 
land  with  a  death-like  grip,  with  all  the  harrowing  anxiety 
which  its  ownership  entails  ;  and  it  is  only  when  its  load 
of  debt  devours  it,  that  he  gives  it  up.  He  is  then  found 
low  and  servile,  or  the  bitter  enemy  to  the  existing  order. 
The  three  millions  of  so-called  pauper  land  proprietors 

government.  He  says  :  "  Communism  is  a  hateful  thing,  and  a  men- 
ace to  peace  and  organized  government.  But  the  communism  of  com- 
bined wealth  and  capital,  the  outgrowth  of  overweening  cupidity  and 
selfishness,  which  insidiously  undermines  the  justice  and  integrity  of 
free  institutions,  is  no  less  dangerous  than  the  communism  of  oppressed 
poverty  and  toil,  which,  exasperated  by  injustice  and  discontent,  attacks 
with  wild  disorders  the  citadel  of  rule."  This  is  not  the  disturbing 
utterance  of  a  mere  demagogue,  or  the  hallucination  of  a  disordered 
crank,  but  the  timely  warning  of  the  true  patriot,  who  would  avert  a 
calamity  terrible  to  contemplate. 


THE   FARMERS'    SOCIAL    OUTLOOK.  23 1 

of  France,  inheriting  from  their  ancestors  a  load  of  injus- 
tices, are  hardly  responsible  even  for  what  their  own  exer- 
tions might  remedy.  Circumstances  may  make  men  but 
little  removed  from  the  brute. 

However,  all  socialistic  schemes  as  continuous  policies 
mean  slavery.  It  is  only  when  the  evils  which  prompt 
retaliation  by  combination  are  removed,  that  freedom  is 
real.  Socialism  is  in  direct  antagonism  with  the  true 
interests  of  agriculture.  Under  a  general  regime  of  one 
socialistic  scheme  against  another,  the  game  is  against 
the  best  condition  of  agriculture.  Freedom  !  Freedom  ! 
Individuality  !  must  be  the  watchwords  of  the  husband- 
man. The  present  state  of  land  ownership  in  Great 
Britain  is  admitted  on  most  sides  to  be  unsatisfactory, — 
in  proof  of  which  is  the  endeavor  of  successive  govern- 
ments to  remedy  the  evil  legislation  of  centuries  past. 
There,  as  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  the  disease  having, 
in  a  certain  sense,  become  chronic,  a  return  to  a  better 
state  of  land  ownership  is  most  difficult.  In  America, 
the  acute  stage  is  approaching  rapidly,  through  a  some- 
what different  channel  from  that  by  which  England's 
farmers  lost  their  lands  ;  but  I  trust  it  is  not  too  late,  in 
most  localities  at  least,  for  the  application  of  a  salutary 
remedy. 

I  believe*in  a  numerous  land-holding  class  ;  small  land 
proprietors  have  been  the  backbone  of  nearly  all  real 
progress  in  America  ;  and  the  outlook  is  dark  indeed 
if  their  power  and  influence  is  gradually  to  disappear. 
Sismondi  says  :  "  Wherever  we  find  peasant  proprietors, 
we  find  comfort,  security,  confidence  in  the  future,  and 
that  which  assures  at  once  happiness  and  virtue."  This 
independence  certainly  should  be  the  desired  condition. 


232  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

The  Belgian  economist  De  Laveleye's  opinion  is,  that 
"  in  England,  large  farming  and  large  properties  have 
killed  this  class  of  free  and  brave  peasant  proprietors,  the 
yeomen  who  won  the  battles  of  Poitiers,  Crecy,  and 
Agincourt.  .  .  .  Never  to  be  forgotten  is  Pliny's  cry  of 
grief,  which  echoes  like  a  warning  note  through  economic 
history.  Overgrown  estates  ruined  Italy  and  the  prov- 
inces. Large  properties  produce  everywhere  excessive 
inequality,  depopulation,  class  divisions,  and  decay. 
Countries  inhabited  by  peasant  proprietors  have  with- 
stood all  these  crises."  If  we  compare  country  with 
country,  period  with  period,  we  will  find  that  where  the 
land  has  been  well  divided  among  the  people,  other  things 
being  equal,  there  prosperity  will  be  the  more  generally 
apparent. 

It  is  the  Abbe  St.  Pierre's  decision,  that  the  infraction 
of  the  Roman  laws  limiting  the  size  of  the  Roman 
citizen's  estates  to  small  dimensions,  hastened  rapidly 
the  ruin  of  the  republic. 

All  through  the  history  of  Greece  we  are  impressed  by 
the  idea,  that,  notwithstanding  her  growth  towards  per- 
fection in  literature,  science,  and  politics,  she  carried 
along  with  it  the  seeds  of  her  own  destruction.  The 
depravity  of  the  masses  resulted  largely  from,  depriving 
them  of  the  reasonable  use  of  the  lands.  The  history 
of  the  rise  and  progress,  decay,  and  final  downfall  of 
these  old  civilizations,  showing  that  the  general  features 
of  each  progressive  stage  were  an  index  to  the  condition 
and  importance  of  the  agricultural  classes,  and  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  land  was  held  by  them,  is  of  very 
great  practical  interest  to  us. 

Dr.  Bowen,  an  American  authority  of  some  note  on 
these  matters,  believes  that  "  every  farmer  should   own 


THE  FARMERS'    SOCIAL    OUTLOOK.  233 

the  soil  he  tills  "  ;  that  "  it  makes  him  a  better  farmer,  a 
better  citizen,  and  a  more  patriotic  one." 

Collectivism  would  be  no  remedy  for  the  abnormal 
state  of  things  toward  which  we  are  now  tending  ;  it 
would  be  a  cure  more  to  be  dreaded  than  the  disease  ; 
and  the  same  may  be  said  of  land  nationalization.  Ex- 
tinguish that  impulse  which  prompts  our  farmers  to  cul- 
tivate with  energy,  and  beautify  the  lands  of  their  fore- 
fathers, and  you  have  stricken  that  land  with  a  blight  ; 
cause  the  farmer  to  view  the  orchards  and  gardens  which 
have  been  his  childhood's  delight,  as  the  property  of  the 
highest  bidder,  and  his  interest  in  them  fails  ;  deprive 
him  of  the  stimulus  to  work,  which  sole  ownership  and 
management  of  an  estate  freed  from  all  encumbrances 
naturally  gives  him,  and  make  a  collectivate  or  govern- 
ment agent  sole  manager  of  his  individual  industries,  and 
you  have  robbed  him  of  the  best  incentives  toward  true 
progress.  There  is  nothing  original  in  all  this.  They 
are  but  the  views  of  our  ablest  economists.  Adam 
Smith's  observations  led  him  to  the  conclusion,  that 
"  the  small  proprietor  who  tills  every  part  of  his  little 
territory,  who  views  it  with  all  the  affection  which  prop- 
erty (especially  small  property)  inspires,  and  who,  on 
that  account,  takes  pleasure  not  only  in  cultivating  but 
in  adorning  it,  is  generally  of  all  improvers  the  most 
industrious,  the  most  intelligent,  and  the  most  success- 
ful." Arthur  Young  makes  this  striking  and  enthusiastic 
remark  :  "  Give  a  man  secure  possession  of  a  bleak 
rock,  and  he  will  turn  it  into  a  garden." 

Nothing  can  be  more  conducive  to  the  success  of  the 
farmer's  enterprise  than  the  confidence  that  his  labors 
may  secure  him  thorough  independence.     With  increas- 


234  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

ing  faith  in  his  opportunities  to  become  an  individual 
owner,  his  chances  to  become  something  of  a  capitalist 
are  increased.  As  he  gathers  capital,  he  gathers  power  to 
defy  the  land-grabber  or  the  usurer.  But  this  is  not  the 
tendency  in  America  to-day,  and  the  consequence  must 
be  fewer  and  fewer  men  on  whom  to  depend  for  social 
security — a  most  momentous  matter. 


CHAPTER  III. 

DANGER    TO    MORALS. 

Everywhere  we  find  political  centralization  counteracting  the  in- 
fluence of  that  social  decentralization  which  looks  to  elevating  the 
condition  of  all  the  people  of  the  state,  whether  male  <  r  female. 

— Henry  C.  Carey. 

In  an  opening  chapter  I  made  the  claim  in  behalf  of 
the  rural  classes,  that  they,  in  addition  to  their  many 
other  valuable  characteristics,  were  peculiarly  the  moral 
safeguards  of  society.  Especially  is  this  so  in  reference 
to  the  use  of  intoxicants. 

Regrettable  though  it  be,  we  are,  in  some  particulars, 
becoming  more  susceptible  to  the  acquirement  of  this 
habit  than  heretofore.  We  have  already  learned  that 
nervous  disorders  are  increasing.  This  is  not  only  the 
case  in  the  United  States,  but  in  Canada  as  well.  "  When 
the  nervous  system  loses,  through  any  cause,  much  of 
its  nervous  force,  so  that  it  cannot  stand  upright  with 
ease  and  comfort,  it  leans  on  the  nearest  and  most  con- 
venient artificial  support  that  is  capable  of  temporarily 
propping  up  the  enfeebled  frame.  Any  thing  which 
gives  ease,  sedation,  oblivion,  such  as  chloral,  chloro- 
form, opium,  or  alcohol,  may  be  resorted  to,  first  as  an 
incident,  and  finally  as  a  habit."  ' 

'  Dr.  George  M.  Beard. 
235 


236  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

The  Rev.  Josiah  Strong,  commenting  on  the  above,  in 
dealing  with  this  subject  in  his  book,  "  Our  Country," 
says  :  "  Men  of  nervous  organizations  are  not  only  more 
likely  than  others  to  use  alcohol,  and  to  use  it  to  excess, 
but  its  effects  in  their  case  are  worse  and  more  rapid. 
The  wide  difference  between  a  nervous  and  a  phlegmatic 
temperament  accounts  for  the  fact  that  one  man  will  kill 
himself  with  drink  in  four  or  five  years,  and  another  in 
forty  or  fifty." 

The  annual  expenditure  of  the  United  States  for 
foreign  and  domestic  liquors  is  now  estimated  at  one 
thousand  millions  of  dollars.  "  This  is  more  than  is  ex- 
pended for  beef,  pork,  and  flour,  and  nearly  equals  the 
amount  paid  for  wages  in  all  the  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments of  every  description."  '  Official  statistics  show 
that  beer  has  largely  taken  the  place  of  spirits,  but 
though  in  1840,  the  United  States  consumed  four  gallons 
of  liquor  per  capita,  in  1888  she  consumed  over  twelve 
gallons  per  capita. 

As  the  people  gather  more  into  the  cities,  a  larger  pro- 
portion of  the  nation  becomes  more  subject  to  nervous 
disorders,  and  a  consequent  susceptibility  to  intemper- 
ance, a  habit  which  further  impairs  the  moral,  the  men- 
tal, and  the  physical  capacities  of  men, — which  fills  jails 
with  criminals,  poorhouses  with  paupers,  and  makes 
many  homes  of  wretchedness.  The  increased  exposure 
to  the  vice  of  intemperance  is  one  grave  objection  to 
change  from  country  to  city  life.  Especially  is  this  the 
case  with  those  who  become  engaged  in  the  very  unhealthy 
occupations — occupations  which  are  on  the  increase. 
Higher  wages  are  paid  to  those  who  are  likely  to  be  soon 
cut  down  by  the  deadly  effects  of  their  peculiar  industry. 

'  Senator  John  J.  Ingalls,  North  American  Review,  August,  1889. 


DANGER   TO   MORALS,  237 

Consequently  a  greater  opportunity  is  afforded  for  holi- 
days. Indeed,  it  is  claimed  that  the  drinkers  live  the 
longest,  owing  to  their  more  frequent  absence  from  work. 
We  might  wish  that  Ebenezer  Elliott's  character  of  the 
grinder  applied  better  to  that  class  in  his  time  than  now  : 

"  There  draws  the  grinder  his  laborious  breath  ; 

There,  coughing,  at  his  deadly  trade,  he  bends  ; 
Born  to  die  young,  he  fears  nor  man,  nor  death  ; 
Scorning  the  future,  what  he  earns,  he  spends  ; 
Debauch  and  riot  are  his  bosom  friends." 

As  our  young  men  drift  into  the  cities,  they  come  into 
contact,  not  with  the  once  denounced  and  degraded  bar- 
room, but  with  the  respectable  "  beer  palace,"  where 
every  thing  is  made  as  attractive  and  entertaining  as 
possible.  To-day,  as  compared  with  twenty  years  ago, 
the  selling  of  intoxicating  liquors  is  an  eminently  re- 
spectable occupation,  and  consequently  the  tendency  is 
to  make  the  habit  of  drinking  equally  so.  These  "  beer 
palaces  "  are  gilded  traps  for  our  country  boys,  when 
they  come  to  change  country  for  city  life.  The  city  of 
New  York  alone  has  seven  thousand  of  these  legalized 
life-  and  soul-destroying  dispensaries  of  sin  and  ruin, 
some  of  them  being  most  costly  and  gorgeous  in  their 
appointments. 

That  the  cities  contain  a  larger  proportion  of  excessive 
drinkers  than  the  country,  is  proved  by  the  much  larger 
ratio  of  deaths  in  them  from  this  cause,  as  compared  with 
the  country.  In  the  city  of  London,  one  to  12,800  of 
the  population  dies  from  the  use  of  alcohol,  while  of  the 
whole  kingdom,  only  one  to  26,000  dies  from  its  use. 

In  fact,  the  ruralists  of  our  country  can  hardly  realize 
how  much  the  cause  of  temperance  depends  upon  them 


238  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

for  its  life  and  vigor  ;  though  it  is  not  difficult  to  obtain 
data  to  prove  that  the  backbone  of  organized  temperance 
reform  is  with  the  rural  classes,  while  it  is  little  less 
difficult  to  discover  that  organized  opposition  to  this 
work  has  its  chief  strength  with  the  urban  classes. 

To-day  with  the  vast  city  vote  against  the  country,  the 
country  majority  is  handicapped  by  the  city  majority, 
whatever  it  may  wish  to  do  in  order  to  stay  the  tide  of 
intemperance.  The  great  temperance  reforms  of  the 
past  have  been  principally  fought  out  in  the  country 
towns.  To  carry  on  this  warfare  successfully  must 
become  more  and  more  difficult,  as  the  cities  grow  while 
the  country  stands  still. 

Remarks  Mr.  Strong  :  "Our  cities  are  growing  much 
more  rapidly  than  the  whole  population,  as  is  the  liquor 
power  also."  After  which  he  propounds  the  query  :  "If 
this  power  continues  to  keep  the  cities  under  its  heel, 
what  of  the  nation,  when  the  city  dominates  the  country  ? " 
New  York  is  now  practically  ruled  by  the  liquor  inter- 
ests, but  New  York  is  not  alone  in  this  by  any  means. 

There  are  no  more  active  workers  in  our  political 
caucuses  than  the  city  and  town  dealers,  manufacturers 
and  promoters  of  this  degrading  and  destructive  traffic. 
These  men  spend  vast  amounts  at  every  election  to 
corrupt  voters.  And  thousands  of  dollars  are  put  up  at 
every  session  of  our  legislatures,  to  buy  up  legislators  for 
the  purpose  of  keeping  open  this  highway  to  destruction. 

It  is  not  the  farmers  of  America  who  desire  the  growth 
of  this  evil,  or  who  crave  its  exhilarating  effects.  And, 
be  they  prohibitionists  or  moral-suasionists,  they  have 
little  desire  to  see  the  accumulation  of  revenue  through 
the  sale  of  privileges  to  import,  to  manufacture,  or  dis- 
pense that  which  debases,  enslaves,  and  pauperizes  so 


DAA'GER   TO   MORALS.  239 

many  of  the  people.  Neither  can  prohibitionists  nor 
moral-suasionists  anywhere  permit,  without  heartfelt 
regret,  the  continuous  change  of  conditions  which  tend 
to  nourish  proclivities  towards  the  drinking  habit,  and 
to  see  those  who  are  engaged  in  this  trade  the  rulers  of 
the  land. 

It  was  to  some  a  startling  statement,  recently  made 
by  a  prominent  clergyman,  that,  unless  a  substitute  be 
found,  the  liquor  saloon  supplies  an  absolute  necessity  in 
our  great  cities  such  as  New  York,  with  their  "  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  homeless  boarding-house  and  lodging- 
house  population."  '  This  condition  has  assumed  gigan- 
tic proportions,  apparently  unnoticed.  But  now  we  must 
ask  :  As  matters  are  drifting,  will  a  substitute  be  found  ? 
Every  new  day  sees  a  larger  proportion  of  American 
people  than  hitherto,  of  the  boarding-  and  lodging-house 
stamp.  It  follows,  that  we  are  rapidly  increasing  the 
proportion  of  our  citizens  to  whom  the  beer  saloon  or  a 
substitute  is  a  necessity.  The  country  of  small  farmers 
such  as  has  been  the  pride  of  America  in  the  past,  requires 
nothing  of  the  kind.  To  such  the  beer  saloon,  instead  of 
being  a  necessity,  is  always  a  curse  when  established. 

But,  whether  the  sale  of  intoxicants  for  the  purpose  of 
being  used  as  a  beverage  should  be  prohibited  or  limited 
by  law,  or  its  control  be  left  to  the  influences  of  moral 
forces,  there  is  no  question  as  to  the  imperative  necessity 
for  the  human  family  to  avoid,  by  all  means,  that  condi- 
tion which  must  constantly  increase  their  chances  to  be 
the  victims  of  this  increasing  peril. 

Another  most  serious  phase  of  the  question  of  the 
drift  from  the  old  farms  to  other  occupations  in  the 
towns  and  cities — the  dispersion  of  the  old  families  from 

'  The  Rev.  Dr.  Bacon. 


240  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

the  homes  of  their  fathers — is  in  the  diminution  of  per- 
manent homes  just  where  permanent  homes  should  be 
increased.  There  is  a  safety  to  the  state  and  to  truest 
aims  of  life  in  the  multiplicity  of  complete  family  circles. 

I  once  heard  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  say,  that 
he  had  no  fear  for  the  people  who  must  build  cellars 
under  their  homes  ;  for,  in  a  climate  where  such  were 
necessary,  the  father  would  be  found  at  home  when  the 
day's  work  was  over.  Mr.  Beecher  was  right.  The 
home  life  is  of  the  most  desirable  character,  where  the 
husband  and  father  looks  to  his  own  fireside,  himself  to 
become  the  central  figure  in  the  family  group,  when  he 
seeks  rest  and  recreation  from  his  toil  ;  the  life  where 
the  wife  and  mother  is  least  likely  to  have  occasion 
to  carry  a  heavy  heart,  because  of  the  marriage  vow 
having  become  shorn  of  the  virtue  it  should  possess  ;  the 
home  where  the  round  of  household  duties,  though 
perhaps  rough  and  laborious,  may  be  performed  with 
cheerfulness,  because  it  is  a  work  in  which  a  family's 
interests  and  sympathies  share  in  promoting  their  accom- 
plishment ;  the  home  where  the  children  may  view  with 
pleasure  and  with  profit  a  harmony  of  purpose  in  all  the 
details  of  the  varied  efforts  which  are  being  put  forth  to 
further  the  interests  of  the  individual,  the  family,  and  the 
state. 

Every  new  contingent  which  leaves  the  old  farms  for 
city  or  factory-town  life,  goes  to  swell  the  ranks  of  the 
classes  which  are  doing  least  to  preserve,  in  its  full  sig- 
nificance, the  sovereign  value  of  the  family  compact.  We 
cannot  give  too  much  heed  to  the  danger  which  must 
befall  us,  through  thus  following  in  the  track  of  the 
civilizations  which  have  gone  down.  With  the  people 
flocking  to  cities,  and  the  corresponding  moral  dangers 


DANGER   TO   MORALS.  24 1 

therefrom,  a  growing  disregard  of  the  sanctity  and  indis- 
sohible  character  and  purpose  of  the  marriage  vow — the 
family  compact, — we  endanger  the  whole  fabric  of  society. 
"Any  reflecting  person,  considering  these  questions  from 
the  point  of  view  of  public  policy  and  in  the  interests  of 
civilization,  without  any  prepossessions  upon  the  subject 
that  can  be  called  religious,  must  see  that  the  institution 
of  the  family  is  at  the  base  of  all  our  civilization,  and  it 
is  the  duty  of  every  good  citizen  to  repel  all  assaults 
upon  it." 

Notwithstanding  our  great  accumulations  of  wealth, 
our  palatial  residences  with  their  varied  attractions  and 
appointments  to  make  the  average  city  home  luxurious 
and  comfortable,  the  father  and  husband,  as  a  rule,  is 
less  at  home  than  in  the  ruder  days  of  the  early  Pilgrims 
and  Puritans.  With  our  development,  the  modern  club- 
house and  the  fashionable  restaurant  have  come  —  a 
menace  to  the  permanency  and  nobility  of  the  family. 
They  take  the  heart  out  of  the  family  circle,  and  leave  it 
cold  and  purposeless.  These  institutions  are  growing 
in  America  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  increase  of 
population. 

Of  the  poorer  classes,  it  is  becoming  strikingly  appar- 
ent, that  the  number  of  married  women  looking  for  em- 
ployment at  the  stores,  offices,  and  factories  is  alarmingly 
on  the  increase.  It  is  said  by  those  who  have  given  this 
matter  attention,  that  the  married  who  are  thus  striving 
for  situations  in  our  cities  are  not  fewer  in  numbers  than 
the  unmarried  ;  that  of  these  the  majority  are  women 
whose  husbands  have  either  left  them,  or  who  are  com- 
pelled to  assist  the  husband  in  procuring  a  subsistence  for 
the  family  ;  that  a  vast  proportion  are  wives  of  perfidious 
husbands.     There  was  once  a  time  when  the  young  wife 


242  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

of  the  man  of  small  income  was  enabled  to  join  by  the 
side  of  the  husband  in  the  labors  of  his  calling,  as  in  the 
small  retail  stores — now  almost  extinct  in  our  large  cities. 
But  of  all,  the  country,  under  the  regime  of  the  small 
farmer,  has  afforded  the  best  chances  for  this  most 
desirable  of  partnerships. 

The  state  wherein  is  destroyed  the  permanent  home 
life  must  expect  moral  degeneracy,  and  the  state  which 
depends  upon  the  great  capitalists,  and  hired  labor,  and 
mechanics  to  supply  it  with  the  fruits  of  the  earth  must 
one  day  see  its  homes  become  devoid  of  character  or 
honor — its  mothers  forced  down  from  the  high  and 
rightful  place  which  they  should  occupy. 

Of  the  fallen  Grecian  Republic,  says  Mr.  Henry  C. 
Carey  :  "  Wisdom,  love,  chastity,  poetry,  history,  the 
liberal  arts,  and  even  Athens  herself,  were  typified  by 
female  figures — Minerva,  Venus,  Diana,  and  the  Muses 
having  been  the  objects  of  divine  worship  among  the 
people  who  looked  to  Solon  for  their  instructions  and 
their  laws.  When,  however,  we  look  to  the  interior  of  the 
Athenian  family,  we  find,  as  in  all  cases  of  semi-barbarism, 
the  home  to  have  no  real  existence,  the  wife  having  been 
a  mere  drudge,  whose  sphere  of  action  was  limited  to  the 
perpetuation  of  the  family  and  the  superintendence  of  the 
household — the  husband  meanwhile  finding  the  best  so- 
ciety the  city  could  supply  in  the  dwelling  of  his  mistress. 
Neglected  as  she  was,  chastity  was  then,  nevertheless,  the 
characteristic  of  the  Athenian  matron.  When,  however, 
Athens  had  become  mistress  of  one  thousand  cities,  when 
centralization  had  been  fully  carried  out,  when  trade,  war, 
and  politics  had  become  the  sole  pursuit  of  the  Athenian 
men,  we  find  Socrates  lending  his  wife  to  his  friend, 
while  Pericles  scarcely  surprises  his  fellow-citizens  when 


DANGER    TO   MORALS.  243 

presenting  to  them  Aspasia,  his  own  mistress,  and  the 
mistress  of  so  many  others,  as  his  legitimate  wife — the 
class  of  hetcBrce  then  constituting  the  most  distinguished 
feature  in  the  highly  civilized  society  which  had  Attica 
for  its  home." ' 

'*  The  tendency  of  legislation  in  this  country  has  been 
to  a  relaxation  of  the  matrimonial  tie,  and  this  is  a  ten- 
dency that  there  is  urgent  need  of  resisting."  "  It  indi- 
cates a  general  relaxation  of  moral  forces.  We  are  creating 
a  state  which  is  the  least  likely  to  resist  this  tendency, 
and  legislators  as  well  as  others  are  participating  in  it. 

Says  Cardinal  Gibbons  :  ''  In  Rome  adulteries  in- 
creased as  divorces  were  multiplied." 

After  speaking  of  the  facility  and  frequency  of 
divorce  among  the  Romans,  Gibbons  adds  :  "  A 
specious  theory  is  confuted  by  this  free  and  perfect 
experiment,  which  demonstrates  that  the  liberty  of 
divorce  does  not  contribute  to  happiness  and  virtue. 
This  facility  of  separation  would  destroy  all  mutual  con- 
fidence and  inflame  every  trifling  dispute.  The  minute 
difference  between  a  husband  and  a  stranger  which 
might  so  easily  be  removed,  might  still  more  easily  be 
forgotten." 

How  apropos  in  this  connection  are  the  words  of 
Professor  Woolsey  :  "  Nothing  is  more  startling  than 
to  pass  from  the  first  part  of  the  eighteenth  to  the  latter 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  to  observe  how  law 
has  changed  and  opinion  has  altered  in  regard  to  mar- 
riage— the  great  foundation  of  society — and  to  divorce  ; 
and  how,  almost  pari  passu,  various  offences  against 
chastity,  such  as  concubinage,  prostitution,  illegitimate 

'  "  Social  Science,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  370. 
'  New  York  Times,  October  25,  i88q. 


^44  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

births,  abortion,  disinclination  to  family  life,  have  in- 
creased also,  not  indeed  at  the  same  pace  everywhere, 
or  all  of  them  equally  in  all  countries,  yet  have  decidedly 
increased  on  the  whole.  Surely  in  few  parts  of  the 
wide  world  is  the  truth  of  these  strong  words  more 
evident  than  in  those  parts  of  our  country  where  loose 
divorce  laws  have  long  prevailed."  ' 

From  a  total  of  9,937  divorces  granted  in  the  United 
States  in  1867,  they  increased  to  25,535  in  1886  :  an  in- 
crease double  the  increase  of  population.  Near  to  every 
tenth  family  is  broken  up  through  difficulties  between 
husbands  and  wives  resulting  in  divorces.  In  fact,  in 
some  cities  of  America  it  is  the  exception  to  find  a 
family  that  is  not  in  some  way  afflicted  by  this  growing 
evil.  While  this  is  the  case  in  the  cities,  the  separation 
of  husband  and  wife  is  of  infrequent  occurrence  in  the 
country. 

Woman — whose  history,  until  a  very  recent  period  has 
been  one  of  subordination,  shame,  and  suffering,  from 
the  hands  of  her  lord  and  master  ;  who  looks  forward 
to  the  days  of  equal  rights  and  greater  freedom  ;  who 
would  sit  enthroned  in  her  proper  sphere,  honored,  re- 
spected, and  deferred  to  as  an  equal  in  intelligence  and 
in  worth, — has  every  thing  to  fear  from  the  breaking  up 
of  the  small  land  proprietories. 

Every  consideration,  however,  pales  before  the  last 
that  we  shall  mention — our  tendencies  towards  those 
conditions  least  likely  to  preserve  or  increase  Christian 
characteristics.  Statistics  bearing  upon  this  subject  are 
to  the  effect,  that  the  country  people  have  been  greater 
church-goers  than  the  city  people,  and  that  these  pro- 
clivities have  become  in  the  past  more  and  more  marked. 

*  North  American  Review,  November,  1889. 


DANGER    TO   MORALS.  245 

In  1880,  one  of  the  chief  cities  of  America,  Chicago,  had 
only  one  church  to  each  2,081  of  the  people,  whereas  the 
country  had  more  than  one  to  every  516.  In  1840, 
Chicago  had  one  to  every  747  of  its  people.  The  change 
has  been  more  noticeable  in  this  city  than  with  most 
others,  but  the  whole  tendency  has  been  in  the  direction 
thus  indicated.  The  cities  of  America  are  being  filled 
with  those  who  have  no  desire  for  Christian  worship. 
Indeed  the  extreme  socialist  declares  himself  the  direct 
opponent  of  religion  of  any  sort.  The  city  is  his  home, 
and  it  is  there  that  his  contaminating  influence  is  exercised. 

Corresponding  to  the  weakening  of  the  desires  of  the 
people  for  religious  worship,  has  crime  increased.  The 
ratio  of  prison  population  to  each  million  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  United  States  was  290  in  1850  ;  607  in 
i860  ;  853  in  1870  ;  and  1,169  in  1880.  These  figures 
show  that  crime  in  America  is  increasing  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  increase  of  population.  It  is  in  the  great 
cities  that  the  increase  of  crime  is  chiefly  taking  place. 

But  it  seems  a  time  does  come  when,  the  country  hav- 
ing lost  its  economic,  political,  and  social  vitality,  it  may 
fail  in  moral  and  religious  character.  It  has  been  so  with 
the  fallen  civilizations.  In  its  appearance  we  see  that 
which  may  be  the  beginning  of  the  end.  What  a  pure, 
noble,  and  grand  development,  in  high  religious  purpose, 
has  been  that  worked  out  on  the  farms  and  in  the  coun- 
try towns  of  New  England  !  How  sad  that  the  scenes  of 
these  religious  activities  should  cease  to  see  perpetuated 
the  Christian  traditions  marked  so  indelibly  upon  the 
history  of  the  pioneer  life  of  this  interesting  portion  of 
the  New  World  ! 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Henry  Fairbanks  stated  recently,  before 
the  Evangelical  Alliance  of  America,  that  in  Vermont 


246  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

there  were  but  150,000  of  the  population  of  the  State 
who  now  attend  any  place  of  worship,  whereas  there  are 
183,000  who  never  go  at  all.  Another  says  that  a  gen- 
eration of  infidels  has  been  reared  upon  the  hillsides  of 
New  England,  and  that  they  are  the  worst  heathen  that 
he  has  ever  met  with.' 

The  Rev.  Mr.  J.  S.  Buckminster,  in  the  first  years  of  the 
present  century,  or  when  the  typical  American  farmer  was 
a  most  prominent  figure  in  the  affairs  of  that  early  period, 
saw  in  those  farmers  the  greatest  spiritual  hope  of  the 
Commonwealth.  He  said  :  "  No  situation  in  life  is  so  favor- 
able to  the  establishment  of  habits  of  virtue,  and  powerful 
sentiments  of  devotion,  as  a  residence  in  the  country,  and 
rural  occupations.  I  am  not  speaking  of  a  condition  of 
peasantry  (of  which,  in  this  country,  we  know  little)  who 
are  mere  vassals  of  an  absent  lord,  or  hired  laborers  of 
an  intendant,  and  who  are  therefore  interested  in  nothing 
but  the  regular  receipt  of  their  daily  wages  ;  but  I  refer 
to  the  honorable  character  of  the  owner  of  the  soil,  whose 
comforts,  whose  weight  in  the  community,  and  Avhose 
very  exist&nce  depends  upon  his  personal  labors,  and  the 
regular  returns  of  the  abundance  from  the  soil  he  cul- 
tivates. No  man,  one  would  think,  would  feel  so  sensibly 
his  immediate  dependence  upon  God,  as  the  husband- 
man." In  the  American  farmer  of  his  day,  he  saw  the 
ideal  farmer,  in  fact ;  he  saw  in  him  the  one  in  whom 
religious  character  was  of  the  most  likely  development 
from  the  circumstance  among  others,  that  the  nature  of 
agricultural  pursuits,  as  he  saw  them  in  his  time,  "  does 
not  completely  engross  the  attention  as  other  occupa- 
tions. Even  then  he  saw  the  necessity  of  entreating  the 
city  classes,  few  as  they  were  then  by  comparison,  to 
'  Rev.  Mr.  Haynes. 


DANGER    TO   MORALS.  247 

"  avoid  the  practice  of  any  thing  which  might  impair  the 
vigor  of  rural  virtues,  simplicity  and  morality,  and  espe- 
cially of  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath." 

Coming  down  to  the  middle  of  our  century,  we  find 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Beecher  sounding  a  note  of  warning  :  "  If 
we  neglect  our  duty  and  suffer  our  laws  and  institutions 
to  go  down,  we  give  them  up  forever.  It  is  easy  to 
relax,  easy  to  retreat,  but  impossible,  when  the  abomina- 
tion of  desolation  has  passed  over  New  England,  to  rear 
again  the  thrown  down  altars,  and  gather  again  the  frag- 
ments, and  build  up  the  ruins  of  demolished  institutions. 
Another  New  England  nor  we,  nor  our  children  shall 
ever  see,  if  this  be  destroyed.  All  is  lost  irretrievably 
when  the  landmarks  are  once  removed  and  the  bands 
which  now  hold  us  are  broken.  Such  institutions  and 
such  a  state  of  society  can  be  established  only  by  such 
men  as  our  fathers  were,  and  in  such  circumstances  as 
they  were  in.  .  .  .  The  hand  that  overthrows  our 
laws  and  temples  is  the  hand  of  death  unbarring  the 
gate  of  Pandemonium,  and  letting  loose  upon  our  land 
ihe  crimes  and  miseries  of  Hell." 

Robbed  of  that  link  of  hope  and  reverence  which 
l)rompts  to  aims  and  actions  which  are  true  and  eter- 
nal in  their  influence  upon  character,  the  people  thus 
divested  must  become  as  all  nations  that  forget  God.  It 
matters  not  what  the  method  employed  to  break  down  our 
best  of  institutions, — the  direct  or  the  indirect, — the  result 
must  be  the  same  in  the  end,  and  the  responsibility  upon 
those  instrumental  in  bringing  it  about,  will  be  in  propor- 
tion to  the  knowledge  they  possess  of  the  drift  and  pur- 
pose of  our  social  and  national  undertakings.  The  catas- 
trophe in  New  England,  should  be  an  instruction  and  a 
warning  to  the  rest  of  America. 


THE  CONCLUSION,  IN  WHICH  THE  REMEDY  IS  FOUND. 
"  Morality  is  stronger  than  a  Majority." 


n* 


THE    CONCLUSION. 

The  first  step  towards  a  remedy  for  the  decline  of 
American  agriculture,  and  an  escape  from  the  dangers 
it  foreshadows,  must  be  in  a  proper  and  more  general 
realization  of  the  imperative  necessity  for  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  the  people  to  be  engaged  in  tilling  the  soil  than  at 
present ;  a  realization  that  agriculture  must  be  made 
prosperous,  and  rank  first  among  the  great  industries. 

A  further  step  may  be  taken  in  the  farmers  of  America 
making  themselves  a  political  force,  uniting  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  securing,  wherever  and  whenever  possible,  the 
return  of  an  intelligent  farmer  to  Parliament  ;  then,  in 
the  legislative  halls  bending  their  energies,  not  to  further 
the  schemes  of  the  communist,  nor  those  of  the  socialist, 
but  the  projects  of  the  true  social  reformer — not  seeking 
more  laws,  but  better  laws,  and  the  liberty  of  a  true 
equality.  Buckle  was  no  doubt  correct  in  his  remark  : 
"  The  best  laws  which  have  been  passed  have  been  those 
by  which  some  former  laws  were  repealed." 

We  can  abolish  all  laws  which  tend  to  engender 
national  strife,  the  destructive  results  of  which  must  be 
borne  by  our  toiling  people  ;  all  laws  which  are  barriers 
between  supply  and  demand,  preventing  production — that 
is,  man's  labor — from  enjoying  its  natural  and  true  value  ; 
all  laws  which  tend  to  prevent  the  reduction  of  taxes 
to  the  actual  needs  of  the  government,  and  the  reduction 

351 


252  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

of  government  to  the  actual  needs  of  the  people  ;  all 
laws  which  prevent  the  placing  of  taxes  where  they 
should  be  placed  ;  and  all  laws  which  force  labor  to  give 
unfair  support  to  capital  or  to  monopoly,  creating  in- 
equality, sacrificing  the  true  ethical  spirit,  which  should 
prevail,  to  the  wiles  of  scheming  politicians.  This  would 
do  much,  very,  very  much,  to  correct  that  greatly  neg- 
lected division  of  political  economy — the  distribution  of 
wealth.  Then  the  farmers,  both  large  and  small,  would  be 
upon  an  equal  footing  with  all  others  in  the  community. 

With  the  powers  which  prosperity  gives,  well  diffused 
among  the  small  estates,  dangerous  socialistic  movements 
can  make  little  headway.  Individual  ownership  incites 
to  individual  responsibility.  Thus  an  effectual  security 
is  given  to  the  prevention  of  social  disturbances.  In 
this  greater  diffusion  of  an  augmented  prosperity  among 
the  rural  classes,  is  also  to  be  found  an  escape  from 
the  dangers  to  morals,  intellect,  and  the  physical  stamina 
of  men,  which  now  threaten  the  human  family. 

But,  however  true  all  this  is,  as  conditions  now  exist, 
it  may  well  be  questioned  if  the  farmers  of  America, 
with  all  the  forces  they  may  gather  in  our  parliamentary 
assemblies,  would  alone  be  able  to  combat  the  forces 
which  we  see  are  pitted  against  them  ;  able  to  meet  the 
argument  that,  though  admitting  a  policy  of  universal 
economic  freedom  to  be  an  "  immense  blessing  to  the 
world,"  yet  since  the  nations  and  so  many  individuals 
have  given  themselves  over  to  a  '*  general  scramble  for 
wealth  and  commercial  supremacy,"  it  would  be  puerile 
and  absurd  for  us  to  take  the  lead,  or  even  to  follow  in 
an  effort  to  gain  for  the  world  these  immense  blessings, 
but  instead  should  take  part  in  the  scramble  ourselves  ; 
that  it  is  a  practical  age,  which  has  little  room  for  visiona- 


THE    CONCLUSION.  253 

ries  ;  and  that  the  "practical  politician  "  decides  against 
visionaries,  while  majorities  support  the  "practical  poli- 
tician." This  reasoning,  though  conspicuously  false  in 
fact,  has  many  supporters.  It  is  false  in  the  assumption 
that  others  go  farther  than  we  in  America  in  false  eco- 
nomic systems.  We  represent  the  civilized  portion  of  one 
of  the  five  continents.  Surely  this  makes  us  responsible 
for  much.  Second,  to  assume  that  the  people  of  America 
are  incapable  of  appreciating  the  advantages  of  a  course 
which,  if  adopted,  would  undoubtedly  lead  to  "  immense 
blessings,"  is  far  from  flattering  to  their  intellectual 
capacities.  Third,  it  puts  a  terribly  low  estimate  on  the 
power  of  moral  purpose  ;  this  is  where  the  great  mistake 
is  made,  when  the  would-be  reformer  allows  it  to  deter 
him  from  action  in  behalf  of  the  right.  And  yet  it  does 
deter. 

Men  of  character,  of  the  noblest  purpose,  see  that  dan- 
gerous conditions  are  settling  in  upon  us,  and  that  every 
good  citizen  is  required  to  stand  for  that  which  is  true 
and  right,  and  that  only.  Bishop  Cleveland  Coxe  tells 
us  in  America,  that  "  we  are  confronted  by  the  terrible 
fact  that  we  are  undergoing  changes  similar  to  those 
which  have  been  the  ruin  of  ancient  peoples  in  many 
examples." 

Bishop  Benjamin  Whipple  says  :  "Awful  problems 
stare  us  in  the  face — the  centralization  of  swarms  of 
souls  in  the  cities,  the  wealth  of  the  nation  in  fewer 
hands,  competition  making  a  life-and-death  struggle." 
Bishop  Spalding  points  to  dangers  which  already  hover 
over  and  around  the  great  American  Republic  :  "  If  we 
have  been  able  to  found  a  durable  state  with  what  else- 
where and  hitherto  has  been  the  least  stable  kind  of 
government,   our  success  is  to  be   ascribed  to  causes, 


254  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

some  of  which  have  ceased  to  exist,  while  others  are 
disappearing." 

Says  Prof.  Austin  Phelps  :  ''  Turn  whichever  way  we 
will — South,  West,  North,  East — we  are  confronted  by 
the  same  element  of  crisis  in  the  outlook  upon  the  future. 
Every  thing  seems,  to  human  view,  to  depend  on  pres- 
ent and  dissolving  chances.  Whatever  can  be  done  at 
all  must  be  done  with  speed." 

Every  thing  warns  us  that  this  is  no  time  for  trifling 
with  principles.  It  is  a  time  for  great  victories  or  great 
failures.  To  whom  and  to  what,  then,  are  we  to  look  for 
deliverance  ? 

Says  the  scholarly  Mr.  George  William  Curtis  :  "  They 
are  called  visionaries  who  hold  that  morality  is  stronger 
than  a  majority."  "  But,"  says  he,  "  the  educated  re- 
former of  America  has  faith  enough  in  the  people  to 
appeal  to  them  against  themselves,  for  he  knows  that  the 
cardinal  principle  of  popular  government  is  the  ability 
of  the  people  to  correct  their  own  errors." 

It  is  true  that  the  men  who  have  led  in  great  reforms, 
as  a  rule,  have  been  educated  men  ;  but,  they  have  been 
men  who  have  always  stood  out  conspicously  in  their 
precepts,  and  examples  as  independent  self-sustaining 
characters.  They  have  been  no  parasites,  but  men  of 
moral  courage  :  men  who  could  give  to  the  world  more 
than  they  expected  to  receive  from  it.  We  have  such 
to-day  scattered  all  over  our  land — in  our  colleges,  in 
our  school-rooms,  in  our  editorial  chairs,  in  our  pulpits, 
and  in  our  courts  of  justice.  But  it  is  not  with  such  only 
that  loyalty  to  high  principles  is  recognized  as  the  true 
monitor  in  the  decision  of  matters  pertaining  to  family, 
to  society,  to  the  state.  It  is  found  strong  in  the  rank 
and   file,    and   nowhere   stronger   than    with    our   rural 


THE   CONCLUSION.  255 

classes,  however  they  may  have  stood  aloof  from  any 
practical  part  in  the  settlement  of  public  questions,  or 
however  they  may  have  appeared  merely  as  partisans. 

Knowledge  is  power,  and  it  is  a  greater  power  for 
good  than  for  evil  ;  but  is  a  mighty  power  for  evil. 
Knowledge,  though,  is  a  greater  "power  for  good  when 
in  possession  of  those  whose  occupations,  habits,  and 
surroundings  are  calculated  to  develop  morality  and 
virtue.  Good  knowledge  and  morality  are  correlatives. 
In  the  rural  classes,  then,  we  may  look  for  good  knowl- 
edge to  be  most  extensively  disseminated,  and  in  the 
greatest  volume  in  the  aggregate. 

In  America,  in  our  day,  that  education  which  should 
render  men  capable  of  doing  valuable  service  for  most 
reforms  is  within  the  grasp  of  the  average  rural  voter.  It 
is  only  required,  in  addition,  that  he  become  inspired  by 
real  convictions.  It  has  not  been  through  men  of  profound 
speech,  or  of  brilliant  oratory  alone  that  reforms  have 
been  wrought,  but  by  all  who  are,  to  use  an  expression  of 
Emerson,  "  appointed  by  Almighty  God  to  stand  for  a 
fact."  "  Him  who  has  the  facts  and  can  and  will  state 
them  people  will  listen  to,  though  he  is  otherwise  igno- 
rant."    It  is  this  standing  for  facts  that  finally  tells. 

Reform's  best  weapon  is  the  plain,  unvarnished  truth, 
which  strikes  home  to  the  heart  of  the  humblest.  Rich- 
ard Cobden,  when  urging  on  his  fellow  leaguers  in  the 
great  reform  to  which  he  had  pledged  his  life's  best 
efforts,  said  to  them  :  "  This  is  the  work  which  requires 
no  gifts  of  oratory,  or  powerful  public  appeals  ;  it  is  a 
labor  in  which  men  can  be  useful  privately  and  without 
ostentation."  The  same  can  be  said  of  all  great  reforms 
in  which  the  people  are  interested.  Yes  !  the  most  of  us 
are  eligible  for  service  in  the  cause  of  truth. 


256  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

A  belief  in  "  the  ability  of  the  people  to  correct  their 
own  errors  "  also  implies  a  belief  in  their  ability  to  see 
their  own  errors.  This  awakening  may  be  the  hardest 
part  of  reform.  If  the  citizens  of  the  Roman  Republic 
had  been  able,  at  some  turning-point  in  its  history, 
to  see  their  own  errors  in  their  true  light,  that  civili- 
zation might  have  gone  on  in  its  own  development.  We 
may  say  the  same  of  the  Grecian,  or  any  other  of  our 
past  civilizations.  The  lack  of  a  proper  realization  of 
error  is  a  continual  stumbling-block  in  itself,  and  is 
ceaselessly  working  the  downfall  of  men.  Notwithstand- 
ing, we  have  faith  in  the  people  of  America,  not  only  to 
eventually  see  the  right,  but  to  act  in  its  behalf. 

When  with  such  vexed  social  and  political  problems  as 
the  difificulties  now  existing  between  labor  and  capital, 
the  distribution  of  land,  the  threatening  power  of  combi- 
nations of  wealth,  and  reforms  in  our  governing  methods, 
we  affirm  that  we  have  faith  in  the  people  to  solve  them, 
we  also  imply  a  belief  in  the  sovereignty  of  the  people. 
Certainly  in  this  we  mean  not  merely  a  passive  sover- 
eignty, not  only  in  the  people  being  represented  here 
and  there  through  an  unpledged  and  uninstructed 
leader,  but  a  sovereignty  in  v/hich  the  individual  citizen 
acts  the  part  of  the  true  sovereign,  and  becomes  respon- 
sible for  the  welfare  of  his  subjects.  Therefore,  with 
such  as  we  in  America,  where  the  people  are  empowered 
to  be  the  chief  rulers,  safety  is  always  in  the  timely 
action  of  the  people,  alive  to  a  requisite  appreciation  of 
truth,  and  realizing  their  responsibilities  as  sovereigns. 

That  portion  of  the  people  by  whom  error  should  be 
the  more  easily  recognized  is  composed  of  those  in  whom 
morality  and  virtue  more  largely  predominate.  It  follows 
that  all,  be  they  clergymen,  statesmen,  judges,  teachers, 


THE   CONCLUSION.  257 

merchants,  fishermen,  or  mechanics,  who  believe  in  the 

abstract  right  as  the  true  expedient,  and  who  believe  in  the 
principles  of  liberty,  justice,  harmony,  righteousness,  and 
peace,  as  the  true  element  in  forming  the  base  on  which 
to  found  social  and  political  systems,  are  natural  allies 
with  our  farmers  in  all  reforms  having  this  end  in  view. 
Should  they  not  be  their  natural  allies  in  resisting  the 
forces  which  are  now  weaving  the  network  of  illiberal, 
unjust,  unchristian,  soul-enslaving  laws  around  the  peo- 
ple of  America  ? 

Our  paternal  governments  have  sought  for  and  formed 
their  alliances  with  wealth  and  the  parts  of  society,  social- 
istic in  their  tendencies.  They  are  plutocracies,  made 
powerful  by  sucking  the  blood  of  the  state  ;  in  league 
with  that  part  of  the  state  which  seeks  relief  from  its 
burdens  by  throwing  them  on  the  remainder. 

Are  not  these  really  the  two  great  parties  about  to  en- 
gage in  a  struggle  which  is  not  very  far  off  ?  The  latter 
party  is  already  a  consolidated,  disciplined  force,  as  we 
have  shown  ;  and  it  has  the  wealth  of  the  country  and 
the  greater  number  on  its  side.  The  former  has  yet  to 
bring  its  forces  together.  But  are  not  thousands  of  our 
own  people  willing  to  enter  into  the  contest  for  reform  ? 
Will  some  only  wait  the  rallying  cry,  while  others  are 
waiting  the  command  to  march  ?  They  are  in  the  minor- 
ity, but  "morality  is  stronger  than  a  majority." 

We  have  long  since  come  to  the  conclusion  that  we 
have  not  been  dealing,  in  this  work,  with  an  economic 
question  only,  but  a  far-reaching  moral  question  ;  and  that 
when  the  moral  question  is  settled,  the  economic  question 
will,  necessarily,  in  a  great  measure,  be  of  easy  adjust- 
ment. We  must  keep  in  view  the  fact  that,  nearly  nineteen 
hundred  years  ago,  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  teach 


258  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

men  a  new  morality  '  ;  to  give  men  a  higher  conception 
of  human  responsibility  than  they  had  hitherto  known  ; 
a  new,  startling  realization  of  the  all-important  truth  that 
the  whole  human  race  is  one  great  brotherhood  ;  that 
their  rights  are  essentially  equal  ;  that  all  through  the 
centuries  that  had  gone  before,  an  abnormal  condition 
had  existed  in  the  alienation  of  these  rights  from  the  great 
majority  of  mankind  ;  that  principles  have  no  bounds. 

It  is  indubitably  correct  that  the  human  family  have 
been  far  too  slow  in  grasping  these  truths,  with  even  a 
rudimentary  conception  of  their  immense  importance  to 
man,  or  of  the  responsibilities  they  call  upon  him  to 
assume.  We  have  much  to  assure  us,  however,  that  they 
do  sink  into  men's  hearts,  and  influence  their  actions. 
From  the  light  they  now  furnish,  error  should  be  more 
easily  distinguished.  Had  it  shone  around  men  and 
pierced  their  hearts  in  the  earlier  civilizations,  who  can 
say  that,  notwithstanding,  they  would  still  have  fallen  ? 

To  this  same  morality  we  must  look  to  shed  a  light 
over  those  difficulties  which  now  seem  insurmountable. 
Morality  is  stronger  than  a  majority. 

Men  must  one  day  scorn  the  thought  of  seeking  priv- 
ileges through  legislation  at  the  expense  of  others.  The 
day  must  come  when  all  men  will  look  upon  the  whole 
system  of  protection  as  a  mean,  selfish,  un-Christian  bar- 
barism of  the  past  ;  when  free  trade  will  not  mean  merely 
liberty  for  particular  interests,  but  justice  to  all ;  when 
no  man  will  dare  insult  his  fellow-men  by  insinuating 
that  they  do  not  so  far  value  liberty  as  to  submit  to  a  direct 
burden  as  its  cost,  rather  than  to  be  cheated  into  it  by 
an  indirect  one  ;  when  men  will  put  no  bounds  to  recti- 
tude or  justice  ;  when  statesmen  must  look  upon  it  as 
'  Geikie. 


THE   CONCLUSION.  259 

childish  and  undignified  in  the  extreme  to  be  guided  in 
their  policies  in  these  matters  by  false  systems  of  foreign 
countries. 

It  was  for  no  small  purpose  that  our  Saviour,  when  on 
earth,  taught  men  :  "  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men 
should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  unto  them." 

We  are  no  pessimists,  no  fatalists.  We  believe  that 
man  is  a  being  of  high  measures  of  perfectibility,  not 
only  individually,  but  that  he  is  one  day  to  see  his  fellows 
harmoniously  and  unitedly  working  out  the  great  prob- 
lems of  social  and  industrial  life  with  their  brothers. 
That  principles  shall  grow  and  finally  prevail  in  grand 
triumph,  we  have  implicit  faith.  Strip  us  of  this  pro- 
spective faith,  and  life  would  be  a  delusion. 

But  while  we  feel  all  this,  we  are  not  blind  to  the  fact 
that  many  years  vtay  pass  before  we  have  reached  that 
happy  state  ;  many  years  of  hard,  unflinching  labor  for 
reform  on  the  part  of  those  who  represent  the  true  moral 
forces  of  our  country.  After  years  of  strife  between 
nations,  engendered  and  quickened  by  their  irrational, 
irritating  fiscal  policies  ;  after  the  communistic  elements 
of  society,  which  our  state  socialisms  have  fostered  into 
active  being,  have  joined  the  forces  of  ''the  Universal 
Revolution  "  ;  after  myriads  of  our  small  land-holdings 
have  ceased  to  be,  as  such  ;  when  the  typical  American 
farmer  will  be  known  only  in  history  ;  and,  after  years, 
perhaps  ages,  of  efforts  to  adjust  all  the  abnormal  con- 
ditions which  our  unwise  laws  have  occasioned,  the  truth 
may  finally  prevail. 

Can  we  permit  this  delay  ?  Shall  we  not  strike  for 
reforms  now,  and  by  so  doing  save  years  of  suffering, 
sorrow,  and  desolation  in  our  land  ?  Shall  not  the  moral 
forces  be  concentrated  for  a  mighty  effort  to  purge  our 


26o  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

Western  world  from  the  disease  which  has  fastened  itself 
upon  it  ?  Surely  we  will  not  let  the  sun  go  down  upon 
our  days  without  the  consoling  thought  that  we,  in  this 
respect,  have  done  something  to  make  the  world  fairer, 
brighter,  happier,  and  better. 

It  is  unwise  for  any  citizen  who  desires  the  best  good 
for  his  country  to  shun  the  study ;  or  evade  a  part,  in  a 
practical  solution  of  these  vexed  political,  economic,  and 
social  problems.  It  is  not  reasonable  for  us  to  complain 
of  our  evil  laws,  or  of  our  law-makers,  if  we  take  no 
responsibility  in  improving  them,  or  do  nothing  in  the 
way  of  giving  a  moral  backing  to  those  who  do.  Plato's 
remark  that  "  the  wise  are  punished  for  taking  no  part 
in  government,  by  being  governed  by  worse  people  than 
themselves,"  still  holds  good. 

While  from  our  pulpits  and  platforms  proceed  loud  and 
emphatic  denunciations  of  the  evils  of  selfishness,  greed, 
injustice,  robbery,  duplicity,  fraud,  and  corruption  ;  the 
people  should  know  that  some  of  the  false  systems  which 
engender  these  evils  can,  and  will,  be  swept  away,  and 
that  they  must  take  part  in  its  accomplishment.  And 
while  it  is  necessary  that  we  place  in  our  governing 
bodies,  men  of  genuine  integrity,  of  wise  foresight,  and 
strong  purpose,  to  represent  our  views  and  to  carry  them 
into  the  statute-books ;  it  should  not  be  forgotten,  that 
it  is  necessary,  that  all  who  represent  these  sentiments 
among  the  people  become  an  active  part  of  an  organized 
body  of  reformers. 

It  is  the  people's  great  question,  and  it  is  needless  to 
spend  time  trying  to  convert  politicians.  When  the  spirit 
of  reform  sinks  deep  into  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  a 
determination  is  shown  to  bring  it  about,  the  politician 
is  powerless  to  stay  its  progress. 


THE   CONCLUSION.  26 1 

The  Cobdens,  the  Brights,  the  Peels,  and  the  Glad- 
stones are  rare  ;  yet,  when  men  of  purpose  do  appear, 
they  should  be  borne  up  by  the  people. 

If  all  who  are  heart  and  soul  in  sympathy  with  reform 
will  unite,  and  stand  by  the  principles  involved,  they  will 
carry  them  through,  in  spite  of  parties.  If  they  be  ani- 
mated by  the  spirit  and  determination  which  impelled 
Cobden  and  his  colleagues  in  their  great  work  of  freeing 
the  commerce  of  England,  political  parties  cannot  stand 
in  the  way.  Said  Cobden  :  "  We  have  nothing  to  do 
with  Whigs  or  Tories  ;  we  are  stronger  than  either  of 
them  ;  if  we  stick  to  our  principles,  we  can,  of  necessity, 
beat  both."  Speaking  of  himself,  he  said  :  "  I  seek  no 
alliance  with  parties,  and  I  will  take  none  ;  but  having 
the  feeling,  I  have  the  sacredness  of  the  principle,  and 
I  can  never  agree  to  tamper  with  it."  So  may  it  be  with 
the  people  who  desire  the  true  freedom  of  America — 
freedom  from  false  systems.  May  they  rise  and  go  be- 
yond party  !  May  there  be  with  them  no  compromising 
of  principles  !  If  defeat  comes,  let  it  come,  once,  twice, 
thrice,  or  more  ;  but  may  there  be  no  surrender  !  May 
they  hold  out  as  Abraham  Lincoln  did  when  facing  the 
great  crisis  in  his  party,  and  as  expressed  in  his  exclama- 
tion, "  If  I  must  go  down,  then  let  me  go  down  linked  to 
truth — die  in  the  advocacy  of  what  is  right  and  just  !  " 

"  Morality  is  stronger  than  a  majority." 

And  now  we  have  accomplished  our  part  of  what  we 
have  considered  to  be  a  duty — in  some  respects  a  cheer- 
ful, and  in  some  respects  an  onerous,  duty  ;  but  in  all 
respects  a  conscientious  one  ;  a  duty  to  our  country  ;  a 
duty  to  ourselves,  and  to  others  who  are  suffering. 

We  leave  the  question,  for  the  present,  to  the  good 
people  of  Canada  and  of  the  United  States.     It  is  of  in- 


262  AMERICAN  FARMS. 

tense  importance  to  each,  and  especially  to  the  farmers. 
May  they  put  forth  new  energy  in  the  cause  of  rectify- 
ing this  great  mistake  of  our  day  :  that  of  legislating  the 
annihilation  of  the  Typical  American  Farm  and  the 
Typical  American  Farmer — a  wrong  to  the  best  interests 
of  their  country,  a  wrong  to  the  universal  brotherhood, 
a  wrong  to  themselves  especially,  and  a  grievous  wrong 
to  their  children,  who  are  soon  to  take  their  places  in  the 
battle  of  life. 

The  century  which  has  seen  in  America  freedom 
gained  for  the  slave,  in  what  may  -well  be  called  "  The 
Last  Crusade,"  is  drawing  to  a  close  ;  but  there  is  space 
left  in  it  yet  to  win  one  more  holy  war  ;  a  victory  which 
will  confer  upon  all,  the  blessings  of  that  equality  in 
economic  rights,  without  which,  they  can  scarcely  be 
called  freemen. 

THE    END. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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